Missing
by Encyclopika
Summary: Two years after graduation, Ochako is tasked with taking on the next big case at the Ryukyu offices - finding and capturing a mysterious villain adept at fast mass murder. Ochako knows this will be daunting, not just because she has to mentor the new intern, but because she will also have to work closely with an estranged friend she finds she still has feelings for. IzuOcha
1. Hot Coals

Nothing.

A concrete slab waned to the side, the brick crumbled under its weight. She peaked inside.

Nothing again.

Uravity listened intently for any sound - a rustle, a whimper, something - anything to tell her where a survivor may be pinned, but with the blaring of sirens on the scene, she and her partner were looking blind. The sun had already set, painting the sky a deep red fading to purple towards the zenith, and Uravity was getting to her limit. For hours they had searched through the rubble, carefully removing pieces of concrete, cut steel beams, and drywall to rescue any survivors. When Uravity had gotten the call that afternoon, a pit had fallen into her stomach. Incidents such as this had been happening way too often recently. A series of loud bangs and then an entire apartment building crumbles to the street below, trapping the residents in a tomb of cement, bricks, and mortar. It took everything in her to be positive today, to get on scene, and begin rescue operations, using her anti-gravity quirk to quickly remove rubble and save people.

Unfortunately, the minute they had arrived, they were given large, black bags, and Uravity could tell that the effort had already been declared a recovery project.

"C'mon, Flashlight, let's try the next pile," Uravity asked of her young charge as she moved away from the crater they had dug.

She wearily looked up at him as he moved his illuminated palms, the light resting on a wide chunk of concrete that was balanced on top of the rubble. Uravity was glad to have Flashlight as her partner this afternoon. Although they had only been working together for a few months, his usefulness could not be overstated. His quirk "Bright Hands" was perfect for these types of missions, enabling him to shine light from the palms of his hands at any intensity on the visible spectrum. His black, full-body costume was specially tailored to reduce the reflection of his person to maximize the use of the light he emmitted. With a helmet like one big pair of sunglasses, he had ensured he couldn't blind himself during combat...not that there had been much of that lately. Since he had been hired, they were mostly called to these sort of disaster missions. After the first two, he had also ordered atac boots to elongate the amount of time he could spend on his feet in difficult terrain searching for people. Now, their only limit was Uravity's weight limit, something she had been working on, but would never be infinite.

And neither was his light. As Uravity gingerly removed pieces of rubble and checked the uneveness of the platform, the light dimmed slightly and then became bright again as Flashlight pushed himself to provide the right amount of brightness. Clearly, they were both getting tired.

"I think we'll call it after this section," Uravity murmured to him as she lifted the giant concrete chunk using her quirk. It floated weightlessly, but at this point, she was really pushing it. Her stomach churned from the strain and she figured her face was a shade of green at this point. There were so many things a hero had to come to terms with, a laundry list of accepted facts. The first one was one's own limits, in quirk and in body. Super powers or no, every hero was still human.

"No, I can keep going! What if in the next pile someone is waiting for us to rescue them? We can't stop now," Flashlight pleaded, but Uravity shook her head, his light reflecting off her helmet's visor.

She moved the large slab, placed it gently to the side, then put her hands together to release her quirk. It shifted slightly as its weight returned, threatening to slide down the side of the rubble hill. Uravity watched it for a second and then pressed on.

"We're coming to our limits," Uravity argued as she dug into the new hole.

Flashlight argued back. "I know I'm brand new and a sidekick, but I promise, dimming doesn't mean much. I can go for a lot longer."

He was lying. Uravity smirked and kept working. This sidekick was such a fiery, determined guy. He reminded her of, well, herself back in the day. Just like her, he had interned with Ryukyu while attending school, and had become such an asset to the office's rescue and recovery efforts that he was hired right out of highschool. Although still a sidekick herself, once Flashlight had been hired, Uravity noticed a profound change in herself. She had already checked off some items on that laundry list of hard truths. His was brand new, no marks yet. Where he was still hopeful in finding survivors in this disaster, Uravity knew, already, that there weren't any to be found. They were here simply to clean up, put on a show for a naive public, and recover bodies so their families could bury something.

It had only been two years since she had graduated from UA, and since then, while working as a sidekick with Ryukyu and Nejire, the second harsh truth kept presenting itself: you can't save everyone. The chances to save people were lost so quickly. Humans were incredibly fragile. Even live people pulled from disasters like this had only a small chance of making it.

It had been hours since the building fell, all ten stories of it. Anyone bleeding out under all this rubble was surely dead by now. Even so, she held out a torch for a miracle, just not as brightly as Flashlight did.

As she removed another large slab out of the way, a glitter caught her eye. "Gimme some light over here," Uravity said quickly.

Sensing the tenseness in her voice, Flashlight jumped into action, his bright palms sending light down into the cavity Uravity had uncovered. As Uravity moved in, she realized the glittering light was the reflection out of a diamond nestled in a ring worn by a pale, lifeless hand. Upon further inspection, Uravity grimaced to find the hand belonged to no one. She heard Flashlight let out a pained sigh.

This wasn't the first time either of them had seen a severed body part. For Flashlight, this was still a painful defeat. For Uravity, this was far from the worst she had seen but there was something still so disconcerting about it. The nails were painted a light pink and that ring was so gorgeous. This hand had belonged to a woman, someone probably not much older than she, although probably married, given the placement of the ring. Who was it that would have to learn of her death? That this was all they could find? Although it had gotten easier to deal with – Uravity wasn't going to cry about this later – the realization that life could be so fleeting still sat heavy in her mind every time.

"I'm sorry," Uravity whispered to the lost life.

* * *

Ochako didn't have to fight too hard with Flashlight about returning to the offices after that. The two of them had worked eight hours straight in the early July heat and both of them were running on fumes. Flashlight had been awfully quiet after they found the hand, his confidence and hope taking a predictable hit. Ochako no longer let it bother her too badly. As Uravity, her quirk was best utilized in disaster situations, removing debris from ground zero and rescuing trapped civilians. Seeing this sort of thing was normal. As terrible as today had been, it wouldn't slow her down any. After all, she had stopped counting the number of people she _had_ saved and all of the villains she helped put away after graduation. This wasn't a loss or a setback – it was just part of the job. Although she tried to lay this wisdom into her rookie partner, she knew he would have to come to his own philosphical conclusions and comforts just like she did, or quit.

As they walked through the front doors to the Ryukyu offices, the agency's namesake dragon lady held her nose, as did the usually bubbly Nejire. Both were standing in conference around Ryuko's front desk.

Nejire still approached them. "Do you guys know you really smell? Were you sweating a lot? I guess it's hot out there!"

Flashlight grumbled, but Ochako was used to Nejire's childlike behavior, and just nodded.

"Both of you go take your time showering, then meet us in the conference room. I want to hear the details about this mission and then I have some things to share," Ryuko explained as she waved them away.

The conference room was a plain, rectangular expanse with a large table that could seat more people than worked at the agency. The offices had changed and expanded slightly since Ochako had first started but Ryuko purposely had kept the team small. She believed in nurturing each hero individually, one by one, and keeping the office small kept communication simple. Promotions also came just as fluidly. As old sidekicks left and Nejire Hado moved from sidekick to, what was affectionately called, a "pro-partner", Ochako Uraraka was hired as the new rookie sidekick. Now that Ochako was more or less a veteran, Youta Kaijudento, hero name: Flashlight, had been hired as the new rookie sidekick. And all the while, interns and first year work-studies ebbed and flowed in and out of the agency. It was nice – it felt like a second family to Ochako, and in many ways it was. Her parents were still far away and as much as she hated to admit it, many of the friends she had made in highschool had become little more than enigmas...

Ochako entered the room, feeling re-energized from her shower and clean clothes. Ryuko kept the offices not all that much cooler than outside, so she was feeling glad she could change into a light, yellow blouse and jean capris for this meeting. She found Ryuko sitting at the head of the table, with Nejire and Youta sitting at either side, all generally in street clothes, waiting for her. Ochako took a seat next to Youta, a young guy not much younger than her with ashy brown hair and wide blue eyes. He had on casual cargo shorts and a blue shirt, probably expecting to go home after this meeting. Ochako smiled at him, but she only received a half-smile in return. She guessed he was still thinking about their work today, and folded her hands on the table top. Ryuko straightened the papers in front of her and began the meeting, taking in a knowing breath.

"So...how was it today?" she asked, her reptilian eyes reflecting her sympathy. Although the question was for official business, it was also familial, as if they had all just sat down to dinner. As much as Ryuko, a pro-hero, could deduce from her newest sidekick's down-trodden glance at his hands and Ochako's weary eyes, this report needed to be made. Nejire sat with pen ready to make the report for their tired comrades.

Ochako let out a strained breath, relieving Youta of this duty, "It was like it has been. No survivors. The building collapse happened at 11:20 today, Flashlight and I arrived on scene no later than 11:45. We began recovery duty."

"They didn't begin with rescue?"

"I suppose they didn't feel it necessary. Ambulances were on scene as soon as we were, though."

"Tell me about the building."

"Ten story apartment building. Business front – a grocery store."

"Sounds exactly like the last two. Thank you, Uravity and Flashlight."

Nejire jotted this down as Ochako and Ryuko went back and forth. The dragon hero propped her head up with her right hand in thought. She appeared as troubled as Ochako felt about the current string of disasters. Ryuko was such an ambitious person and took her job very seriously, imparting her drive to always do better in the rest of the team, if inadvertantly.

Nejire piped in. "Sorry, sorry, but did you guys find anything?"

"A hand," Youta said flatly.

Nejire nodded. It sucked to have to ask for that information, and she filled in the line quietly. Ryuko's expression sank with more sympathy and she leaned over and touched Youta's shoulder. It was clear to all of them that the constant failures were sinking into his confidence in hero work.

"I'm sorry we've been dealing with such a long string of recovery efforts, Kaijudento-kun. Believe me, not being able to save these people hurts me, too. Whatever villain is responsible has certainly become good at the quick and swift sort of mass murder," she removed her hand as Youta loosened up. "And the public seems to understand this. The police department has been very good at taking this seriously and assuring the public we are doing everything we can to get to the bottom of it."

Ryuko's demeanor changed, a small, bright smile appearing on her lips as she lifted the papers in front of her. Just as Ochako figured, every pro-hero considered their failures, the scope of their powers, their inability to be anything but human, and carried on from there. Ryukyu was probably the pro-hero best known for also being her harshest critic. It was something Ochako admired, and it had been one of the factors that had kept her at this office after graduation. There was no one better to learn humility in this profession than Ryukyu.

"I think it goes without saying that all of you have done such a great job. To me, you are all seasoned heroes, and I'm glad we work together," Ryuko was also great at buttering up her staff, and after days like this one, it was welcomed. "For our efforts, the public puts us in a positive light. Our office has garnered a new nickname."

Nejire perked up, squishing her hands against her chest, her eyes becoming wide with wonder. "Oh! Oh! Don't they call us the Sky Trio? Is it because us three can kind of fly?" She pointed to herself, Ochako, and Ryuko.

Ryuko nodded bashfully and giggled. "So, I guess you have heard."

Youta pouted, crossing his arms. He couldn't complain – he had only been with the office for a few months, but the exclusion didn't hurt any less.

"I kind of like it. It helps to distinguish what we are capable of and how we operate, for the most part," Ryuko continued, giving an amused, but sympathetic side glance to Youta. She looked down at the table again in thought, choosing her words carefully. "I explored this idea and thought about our quirks, and I found that there is a big difference between Hado's quirk, my quirk, and Uraraka's quirk."

Ochako arched an eyebrow. "What is that?"

Ryuko sighed and said, "Hado and I have _powered_ flight. We can easily change our direction in mid air, but that's not as easily done with your anti-gravity quirk, Uraraka. Your quirk is essentially a straight line if you choose to use it on yourself and fly. As you go higher, landing becomes more and more dangerous, regardless of support items. This has worried me for some time..."

Ochako, feeling offended, gently defended herself, "But...there's no reason for me to go that high. It's just something I wouldn't consider doing. I know my limits."

Ryuko nodded. "You definitely do. I have no doubt in your abilities Uraraka, in fact, I'd like to promote you to Partner in the near future, essentially making The Sky Trio a reality. But that means that you would always be going on missions by yourself, as you did today, and if this nickname gets popular, the public may question why you don't fly. I want you to be able to use your quirk to its highest potential, make tough calls and go beyond without feeling that limitation. Desperate situations call for desperate actions, and as the great hero you are becoming, I know you will want to take them."

Ochako nodded in understanding as Nejire giggled.

"This is a very round about way of telling us you're hiring someone new," Nejire said, making Ryuko blush a bit.

Composing herself, Ryuko continued, "Yes, I am hiring a new intern. His name is Asuka Dakuro, hero name Krow. He has powered flight, much in the same way as Hawks."

"So, he's a bird?" Nejire asked.

"Yes, he's essentially a bird, but I'll let him introduce the full spectrum of his quirk Monday when he starts," Ryuko answered with a tired smirk. "With that being said, I am also changing the roster. Kaijudento will now be working primarily under Hado, and I am putting Dakuro's training completely in your care, Uraraka."

The news came like an unexpected slap to the back, almost knocking the wind out of Ochako. Her progress had felt slow over the past two years. There hadn't been a particular date in which she went out and completed missions on her own. It just happened one day. The past three missions that Flashlight had tagged along, she wasn't teaching him anything, they just worked in tandem. This would be different. It would be the first time she would be the one teaching another budding hero the ropes, officially, from scratch. The longer she thought about it, the harder it seemed. She would essentially be teaching this new intern muscle memory, not by-the-book facts that he would be getting at school. Ochako fumbled with her hands visibly on the table top, the anxiety rising. Ryuko noticed this and smiled warmly.

"Consider this a sort of test," the dragon hero said softly. "Hado and I will be around for advice, but I want to see you spread your own wings as a pro-hero and show us what you got. That being said, the next big case is your's!"

* * *

Every hero had that list of things to realize and grow from as their professional careers took off. You have limits. You are only human. You can't save everyone. Those bits of wisdom, although imparted in words to every budding hero while in school, were best learned the hard way. The best way to learn one's limits was to break through them and suffer soreness in the morning. The best way to learn you are only human is to take on too much responsibility, fail...and suffer soreness in the morning. The best way to learn you can't save everyone is to find a severed hand after eight straight hours of searching for and expecting survivors...

But one bit of wisdom that was never relayed to Ochako in school was perhaps the biggest no-brainer:

You live a double life.

Uravity was a successful sidekick working at the Ryukyu offices. A prestigious agency to work in, given the head honcho was still sitting pretty within the Top 10 heroes of the country and known internationally for her unique quirk. Uravity also had a unique quirk: Anti-gravity, how cool is that? She is a hero who can clear rubble in a jiffy alongside the super-strength heroes. She was popular. She was awesome. Uravity was one of the up and coming in her neighborhood. She was poised for greatness, surely within the next wave of Top 10 heroes, just like her mentor. When Ochako became Uravity, she was reaching her dreams of providing for her family, making a name for herself, and living in the limelight while making a difference in the world. Uravity inspired others, just like Ryukyu, Thirteen, and All Might once did...

But...when the pink and black suit came off and she donned her street clothes, she was just...Ochako. A young woman living alone in a small, one-bedroom apartment close to the Ryukyu offices. A girl still fumbling through life, attempting to figure out adulthood and independence and all of those strange "privileges". Was there a life outside of heroics? She didn't spend much time in this universe, but surely it still counted for something. There was time here to sleep, to eat, and maybe see a friend or two. That was all.

Her highschool self had proclaimed there wasn't much time for this universe and all its possibilties, and so, she had pushed the one thing she selfishly wanted away. A hero was selfless. A hero's wants came second to their sworn duty. Like her, he also straddled these two worlds, and if she didn't believe in space for something more between them, then why even ask for it?

Ochako mulled over this as she leaned against her car, her cheeks becoming rosy over the thought of him and then over how technical she had become. The breeze coming in from the sea felt nice against her clammy skin. The sun had disappeared for the night and yet, its unforgiving heat still lingered, just like the memories of that one thing she had selfishly wanted; him. Apparently.

She always considered the past when she picked up Tsuyu from the docks. Unlike Ryukyu, Nejire, or Youta, Tsuyu was like a time machine, reeling her back to UA, class 1-A, to Iida, to Todoroki, to...to Deku. Whereas her colleagues would only ever discuss the Hero Universe, Tsuyu bounced between both the hero and personal lives Ochako lived. And she hated it. Uravity had news; Ochako had confusion. Uravity was running forward; Ochako was standing still.

Once Ochako saw Tsuyu's tired face, and heard her dear friend ribbit cheerfully after a successful deployment at sea, she softened. After all, it wasn't Tsuyu's fault Ochako had torn herself in half.

It was late, but the girls always hit up a diner after Tsuyu returned from sea. A nice hot meal she could specially order was one thing the frog hero missed while living on a federal vessel. Living off any old thing found in the ship's cabinets between official meals got repetitive. Nevertheless, Tsuyu enjoyed her work with the coast guard. Living out at sea for weeks at a time was exhilerating and catching bad guys who thought the ocean wide enough to hide in was the icing on the cake. It was an incredible experience that Ochako enjoyed hearing about. Likewise, Tsuyu was always impressed with Ochako's work and listened intently.

Tsuyu's friendship was unique among her current relationships. Here was someone she basically grew up with – they had blossomed into two capable heroines together. Unlike most of their other classmates, Ochako clung onto this relationship with all her strength. Likewise, it seemed Tsuyu also put in the effort, and both girls had successfully remained in each others lives. They had done so much together through the years, even spending time at the same internship offices!

"Oh, Hado and Ryukyu send their regards," Ochako finished her update.

"Kero," Tsuyu replied, happy to hear from her former mentors.

There was a short bout of silence between them as Ochako took in a mouthful of her salad. It was just about that time, now that they had both completely updated each other about their feats in heroics, it was time to delve into...

"So," Tsuyu cut off Ochako's thoughts, as if this conversation was necessary, like ripping off an old band-aid. "How is it going with Shun-kun?"

She didn't choke. She didn't gasp or flail, but a pit did fall straight through her stomach. Ochako quickly swallowed her salad, using those precious seconds to prepare.

"It, um," Ochako stalled, rumaging through her salad as if the words were in there somewhere amongst the romaine, and refusing to make eye contact with her froggy friend. "It didn't work out," she finally spit out.

Tsuyu stared at her. She then characteristically put a long fingertip up to her mouth as she said, "I thought your first date with him was the same night I left on this last trip. How could it be over already, I wonder?"

Ah, yes, how could it be over before it even got going?

"I thought you were excited for this one?" her friend continued, almost knowingly.

"I was..." Ochako's voice trailed off into a mumble.

Tsuyu pressured her to continue, "So? What happened?"

What happened was the same old thing that happened to every poor guy who thought he could get with Uravity. They vied for a heart that wasn't home.

Ochako had met Shun Nyusu after work. He was a reporter working on a story and had come to the Ryukyu offices for a quote or two. One thing led to another, and Ochako, at this point, couldn't remember what those things were. But Shun had been cute and gentlemanly, and for a hot second she thought this could work out. Maybe she could make time for a real relationship now. But something felt off. Something was missing, and she couldn't put her finger on it. So they went on a ton of dates, he met her for lunch, stayed over her apartment for scary movies...but, as much as she wanted it to work, it just wasn't. It was forced. But why?

After a run of the mill date with him at some restaurant or other, Ochako rolled into her apartment as if she had been sleep walking throughout the entire ordeal. She felt unbelievably tired, drained, like he was sucking the life out of her. But it wasn't him, was it? He had no such quirk, and he was nothing but nice. _It's me. Maybe I'm just depressed,_ she had considered.

She got into her pajamas, got out the trusty tub of ice cream, with the big spoon, and plopped onto the couch. She sat in the dark for a full minute before setting the ice cream down on the coffee table in a powerful show of pure willpower.

She blankly turned on the TV, the blue light illuminating the dark hole Ochako found herself in. She hadn't even realized what channel it was turned to, the volume down low, but that voice was unmistakable. She didn't even have to look at the screen for her body to react in a way she hadn't felt since...well, since she had last spoken with him. Against her better judgement, she didn't change the channel, but instead looked up and straight into his green eyes.

Whatever they were interviewing him about, he was trying to escape, but, oh gosh, he was the same kind, easily flustered Deku he had always been. A smile crawled onto her face as she watched him struggle with the reporter before the scene changed back to whatever disaster Deku had been called to. And _damn_ had he grown. Taller now, and filling in his hero costume better than he had in school, Deku was an impressive sight to the people he saved and actually intimidating to the villains he pursued (despite his relentlessly messy hair and speckled cheeks). The lucky reporters had gotten to witness Deku and a number of other heroes taking down the villain. Of course, it didn't seem like Deku had needed any help. One powerful smash and the villain was calling uncle. The news and public absolutely loved Deku, but they didn't know him like she did...like she _had_. As powerful as he was, he was also the gentlest person she had ever met, and a total dork, and a hard worker, and an incredible strategist, and...and...

She watched the news loop, and allowed herself to melt at the soothing sound of his voice. Like a pheonix rising from the ashes, so, too, did her affections for the green hero reignite. That's what was missing. This passion was missing, this fire. This longing...this pining... How could Uravity date someone else when Ochako was still in love with Izuku?

She considered calling him. This news segment was from earlier in the day, surely he was home by now, not doing anything. She even picked up her phone, found his cell phone number, but never pressed "Call". Things didn't feel that easy anymore.

The whole class had promised to stay in touch, but with each month that passed after graduation, another friend dropped off the face of the Earth. Ochako refused to give up for a long time. She would invite the girls out to dessert, texted Iida, and made special time to call Izuku, even if it was about nothing at all. Just to hear his voice, just to feel like the divide between them wasn't widening everyday he lived at the opposite end of the city, worked crazy hours, and almost never returned her calls. Slowly but surely, adult life and hero work took priority over friendship. She didn't blame him. The news adequately reminded her he was busy (insanely so!), and she stuffed her feelings down again. After a while, she felt as though she had no right to demand he call her or keep their friendship alive on such strained circumstances.

And shortly after that, she finally let it go. She dropped the phone back onto the couch, glanced up at the clock, read 10:30pm, and convinced herself he was probably asleep. It had been another harsh reality Ochako learned while being a hero and this one she applied to her current state of affairs:

You will miss your chance.

Whether it was missing the opportunity to save someone, or missing the chance to confess one's feelings for another, this sort of failure would always sting the most.

But she wasn't telling that to Tsuyu, who, for the past silent minute, was waiting for an answer.

"Oh, you know...can't force these kinds of things. Just ended up not feeling right," Ochako said, feeling as though it was actually the truth, just not a lot of it.

Ochako knew Tsuyu wasn't stupid. The frog girl, although blunt and not particularly interested in romance, could easily deduce what Ochako meant. They were best friends, not to mention Ochako wore her heart on her sleeve. She couldn't hide her feelings even if her life depended on it. By the time third year rolled around, Tsuyu knew exactly who Ochako was crushing on, and she could only guess that he was the reason Ochako's gentleman callers were shooed away everytime. Most weren't even given a chance, so Shun's week and a half was respectable.

Ochako steered the conversation away from her love life and back to a more manageable topic.

"So, you haven't been home, but Momo sent invitations out for a party at her place," Ochako said, shrugging off the last conversation and excitedly plunging into this one. "She said it's like a reunion."

"A class reunion after only two years, kero?" Tsuyu questioned, bringing her finger to her chin again.

"It's not official, but, well, you know," Ochako gestured towards her friend. "When's the last time you heard from Mina? From Tooru? Ojiro?"

Tsuyu nodded. "So, everyone has had communication issues, I guess."

"Yeah, I like to think I'm not the only one who didn't realize how hard it would be after graduation," Ochako said, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back into her chair. The waiter came by and took their salad plates away.

Ochako added, "She said over the phone the other day that she got everyone to come. I made sure she planned it for a day after your deployment so you could come...if you wanted."

"Kero, thank you for thinking of me!" Tsuyu croaked happily.

The girls wondered together what everyone was like now. It felt like eons since the last time they really sat down and spoke to anyone in their class but each other. Ochako tried to remember just when it was she fell off the edge of the Earth. She figured her last conversation with any of them had been with Izuku as she clung to have some contact with him. But then the anxiety and second guessing had moved in, and that had been the end of that. When Tsuyu reached out one final time to keep their friendship alive, Ochako grasped that outstretched hand and refused to let it go again. Since then, Ochako drove Tsuyu to and from the docks for long deployments, and they scheduled in dinners together, because god dammit, they were not going to let this die. One out of twenty friendships was still a success in this story.

They decided to go to Momo's reunion together.


	2. Rekindling

Ochako and Tsuyu decided to share a taxi to the address Momo had written on their invitations. Alcohol was explicitly stated on the small, unassuming cards, and the girls decided that in the spirit of partying, safety, and relaxing for two whole seconds, they would not rely on self transportation.

The cards had also stated to dress casually. Nevertheless, Ochako had fussed over what to wear. "Casual" to Yaomomo Yaoyarozu wasn't an everyman's definition of the term, but showing up in sweats was also out of the question. It was summer, so she settled for a nice white blouse and a pink, knee length skirt with nice flats, and figured it was casual enough. She enjoyed dressing cute, anyway, she told herself. Tsuyu had shown up with the taxi in long jeans and a green shirt, and Ochako doubted Tsuyu thought twice about Momo's definition of "casual". The girl just had her act together, Ochako supposed.

As they arrived at Momo's estate (or rather, her parent's estate, most likely), Ochako felt the pit in her stomach make itself known again. It had been a while since she had seen any of these people. It had come as quite a shock to her when Momo's invitation came in the mail. The snail mail. In a real envelope with postage. Between graduation and that moment of delivery, Ochako could count the number of times she had seen or called Momo on one hand, sprinkled about with social media interactions that dried up just as quickly. But that wasn't nearly as bad as her track records with other students in the class. Was everyone in the same boat or had she not tried hard enough to stay in contact? At the time it felt like she was doing a lot of work but maybe it wasn't? Would she be asked why she disappeared? Would work be a good excuse? Was anyone mad? Was anyone missing her?

Tsuyu squeezed her hand from the other side of the car as it came to a stop at the front door. Ochako jumped slightly and looked at Tsuyu who stared right back.

"You'll feel better once you see everyone," Tsuyu promised and handed the cabbie some money.

Ochako exhaled audibly, and gave a weak smile. Of course she would. This new anxiety was really starting to get on her nerves. It was different than the anxiety she had felt in school. Back then, it was a healthy stress that propelled her forward to study harder for tests and perform better in battle simulations. This one was darker, a little cruder. As if her childish insecurities had festered into a new adult version that consumed not only her thoughts about Izuku, but everyone who wasn't currently Tsuyu. It was exhausting and intruding to say the least.

As the taxi disappeared back down the winding path back to the main road, Tsuyu and Ochako walked up the steps to the front door and rang the bell. After just a minute, the large, wooden door opened to reveal a butler who greeted and led the girls further into the house where Momo waited.

The designated "party room" was a wide expanse and two stories tall, as if the same volume of Ochako's entire apartment were doubled and stacked one on top of the other. Ochako figured that the room acted as some sort of personal library, what with all the bookshelves built into the walls. The second "floor" of this room was more bookshelves with a catwalk. In contrast, the wall to Ochako's far left was all windows with two double door exits leading to the balcony. During the day, those windows would let in an enormous amount of natural light, Ochako could only imagine, but it was getting dark now. Instead, the room was illuminated with glass chandeliers overhead and a few floor lamps. Across the room, chairs and tables covered with white table cloths and snack foods dotted the maroon carpeting. Momo had even set up a TV with some gaming system into a corner with couches for the more rowdy guests she was expecting.

"You're here!" came Momo's voice from straight ahead.

Ochako had misread the room. By day, it was a personal library. By night, it was for other mature entertainments, fitted with a large bar against the immediate wall. This was where Momo was sitting, perched upon a stool, leaning her elbow upon the carefully crafted and finished wood counter. Behind this counter were more shelves that were not for books but for booze. Bottles of all sorts of elixirs were neatly placed upon the shelves, glasses were lined up underneath on the back counter, and there was surely more to be had in the cubbards below that.

As Ochako had guessed, Momo's definition of "casual" wasn't the word's true definition, as the host had dressed herself in a deep red cocktail dress and shiny black shoes. Momo popped up from the stool and rushed to the girls, embracing them both into a tight hug. Ochako could sense the anxiety she felt outside wash away as she returned Momo's excited squeeze.

"I'm so glad you're here!" the creation heroine squealed. She let them go to look them both over, as if in disbelief that they existed. "And you're so punctual!"

Tsuyu gave a light shrug - punctuality was important to her, too.

The doorbell rang through the house at that and not a moment later, Iida and Todoroki were delivered. As was expected, Todoroki stood in the door frame, cool and aloof, but with a slight smile on his face as Momo greeted the boys in the same fashion she had greeted the girls. Iida, on the other hand, looked about as stiff as he ever was, containing his excitement, chopping about with his hands, thanking Momo profusely for her invitation. When he finally looked up and caught Ochako's eyes, however, that stiffness was immediately traded for pure glee.

"Uraraka!" he shouted as he speed-walked towards her and embraced her in a bear hug. The man was still larger than life. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay," Ochako answered. This wasn't the time to get into anything too detailed, and Iida seemed to buy it.

The doorbell rang through the house again, and soon enough, all of class A was streaming through the entrance.

It didn't take long for everyone to find their respective cliques and fill the space with excited banter. It also didn't take long for the alcohol to start running. Despite being unsure at first, Ochako shared a communal shot toast with Iida, Todoroki, Momo, Tsuyu, and a very tardy (and definitely pre-gaming) Mina.

"To lifelong friends!" Momo shouted, having already partaken in some wine. Despite how tall she was, Ochako learned that night that Momo was a light weight, already letting loose from a full glass of red wine. Nevertheless, just after she clinked her shot glass with Ochako, the host downed the sweetened vodka in a single gulp. Ochako followed suit with the rest.

Momo glanced around the room, her face already flush. "It's already been 40 minutes, but it doesn't look like everyone is here yet..."

"Not everyone can be so punctual," Mina shrugged from behind the bar counter and sipping her clear drink.

"You could at least _try_ ," Momo snapped. Mina only giggled at this – guilty as charged. If Ochako knew anything about Mina Ashido, it was that she was a free spirit. Expecting her to be on time to a party was asking a lot. Mina spent all of her seriousness and punctuality on hero work, for which she was very good at as Pinky, the Acid Hero.

Momo straightened up on her stool, and took a breath to ignore Mina. She announced, for what had to be the fifth time tonight already, "But they will be here. I am sure of it. I worked very hard to ensure everyone would be here."

" _Everyone_?" Todoroki chided, the scotch rolling in his glass, "You don't say." He was clearly enjoying this new, looser side of Momo. She didn't catch on, and that made it all the more safe to poke fun at her.

"Yes. _Everyone_. I didn't leave anyone out," Momo announced again. "I even invited Mineta and Bakugo, because it's important that we all come back together and get back in contact. We deserve to see each other. We deserve to have friends and to have lives."

Todoroki's seriousness returned. "What do you mean by that?"

Momo sighed, as if she should not have to spell this out. "We are human! Yes, we are heroes, yes, we have chosen this life of sacrifice, but that doesn't mean we are machines!"

She took another sip from her wine glass and continued. "You know, we are all very busy. I get that. Hero work is tiring and there's little time for much outside of it. But, don't you find that tragic?"

She looked around for someone to agree. Todoroki shrugged.

"We have a sworn duty, but I can see where you are coming from..." Iida finally said quietly, bringing his large hand up to his chin to ponder this new philosophy.

Momo nodded in a drunk state of confidence. "It's tragic that there were twenty of us in the class, plus class B, and others in other departments and I find myself not really knowing much about how any of you are doing. I find myself wanting to pick up the phone and ask how you are, but I don't for fear of waking you when you finally get that chance to sleep...or eat...or"

" _Or breathe_ ," Ochako finished for her, looking up to the ceiling. So, it was true – she wasn't the only one feeling that way. Like she couldn't call anyone out of respect, but all it amounted to was pain and loneliness for both parties.

"Exactly!" Momo exclaimed. "And that's not fair. We are still people. So, I decided to hold this get together in a private location so no one is hassled by fans or media and we can all just relax as _human beings_ for once."

Todoroki turned to Momo, one eyebrow arched as if he made a passing connection as she nodded to everyone. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that interview, would it?" he inquired directly.

Momo's brow furrowed, and she looked back at him. Todoroki only stared back waiting for an answer. After a moment of silence, she said in an exasperated sigh, "Maybe..."

"What interview was this?" Tsuyu asked the rest of the group, seeing as Momo was already reliving it.

"It wasn't that bad," Todoroki started off.

"I think it was the one that aired while you were at sea...uh, the time before this last one," Ochako filled her in.

"Oh, was it the one where the host compared you to a 3D printer?" Mina asked Momo, who downed the rest of her wine in that instant.

"How dare he!" Momo whined. "I had worked two weeks straight and then spent my only day off to do that interview as a courtesy and that's what I get? I'm a 3D printer?!"

"Yaoyarozu, I had no idea. That's awful. Completely out of line, I would say," Iida said supportively.

Todoroki took a swig of his scotch and put his warm hand on Momo's shoulder, "To be fair, that guy likes to make a lot of jokes. He compares lots of heroes to common objects. I turned down his offer before because I don't need someone else to call me IcyHot."

"Wish I knew that..." Momo groaned, calming down and pouring herself another glass of wine.

Ochako sighed as her friends tried to cheer up their host. She remembered cringing while watching that segment. Although she was huffing and puffing about it now, Momo had taken the comment in stride and emerged the bigger person during the interview.

As Ochako continued to nurse her drink, listening to her friends veer off into another conversation, a voice crashed through her thoughts, loud and proud as it always was, even when being condescending to its usual target.

"Look who decided to finally show up!" Bakugo's raspy broadcast drawled sarcastically, pointing the spout of his amber beer bottle straight at the newcomer.

Ochako's heart lept into her throat as she realized it was Izuku who had shown up. Right. Momo did say not everyone had shown up yet. Last time she had seen him, it had been on the news in his hero costume, like the returning character in a series. It was almost strange to see him in street clothes. Khaki shorts and a nice, collared shirt was wildly different than the green jumpsuit and iron sole boots. He suddenly seemed real again.

"Yeah, I, uh, got caught up at work," Izuku tried, becoming slightly uneasy as Bakugo closed in on him.

"What? They pull you over to issue you a ticket?" Bakugo continued to badger him, much in the same manner they had in high school. Ochako guessed their relationship would never be a flat road, but at least it seemed that, like everyone else, Bakugo was sincerely interested in what had become of his old classmate. At least a little.

"Hey, man!" Kirishima approached next from behind the explosion hero, his wide toothy smile relaxing Izuku. "What the hell does he mean by "ticket"? Who's gonna give _you_ a summons?"

Before Izuku could answer, Bakugo explained himself, "Haven't you heard? Deku is a police dog, now."

Without missing a beat, the explosive hero turned back to Izuku, "Have they given you permanent tags yet or are you still wandering around looking for your forever home, ya mutt?"

Izuku seemed to brush off the comments as Kirishima only looked more puzzled. "Still wandering around, I guess." And like that, Bakugo seemed to shut up. It had been a new tactic Izuku picked up while in high school. Bakugo could go off on a potty-mouth tangent and Izuku would reply as if he were being a normal human being. Sometimes it stopped Bakugo's incessant yelling and sometimes it didn't, but at least Izuku stopped taking it to heart. He viewed it more like a proper challenge than the condescending barking it often was. Right now, it seemed to be keeping Bakugo's blood pressure in check.

Izuku responded to Kirishima's confused glances between the two rivals. "Out of high school I got a freelance position with the police department, Kirishima. I've been all over the country working with different departments and heroes. That's what Kacchan means."

"That's so cool!" Kirishima gushed.

"And I bet you've already filled in at least eight nerd-books all about those heroes," Bakugo jabbed with a condescending smirk.

"Actually, it's more like ten," Izuku expertly deflected. Ochako giggled silently into her drink.

Bakugo had to snicker as well. "Damn, why am I not surprised you still do that shit, ya nerd?"

Kirishima poked Bakugo's shoulder with the spout of his beer bottle, "Don't you know? Midoriya's real quirk is Strategy. He can remember every little thing about anyone and use it against them."

Izuku became visibly flush at the notion and whined, "Well, not-"

But Bakugo had already grown bored of the interaction and started walking back to the TV where Sero and Denki were playing some video game. "Whatever."

Kirishima went to follow him, then turned around with an excited grin back to Izuku, "It's good to see ya, man. Come join us for some gaming like old times, yeah?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, definitely."

He and Kirishima parted as Izuku made his way to the bar, no doubt because Iida and Todoroki were still conversing with Momo. Ochako felt her body tense up as Izuku's eyes met hers and he stopped right in front of her, his smile growing soft. Right. He was also coming over because she was sitting there, too, and they had been best friends at some point or other.

"Hey, Uraraka, how have you been?"

It was a simple statement, albeit one she should have guessed would be the first thing he said to her, but she felt her throat awkwardly constrict. It had been months since that voice had addressed her personally, and memories of her body's reactions to it through the television speakers just a week or two ago made this all the more difficult. She had known about Momo's party for a long time, but never once thought that Izuku would be there. It hadn't occurred to her. Izuku hadn't existed for months, and only Deku visited her through a screen and as a name printed in ink upon the hero rankings list. She hadn't had time to process or plan what she could possibly say to him should he really stand before her as flesh and blood.

"Oh, um, well," she tried looking down at the floor, away from his questioning gaze, trying to come up with an answer. The truth was out of the question, but a lie would cut this interaction short. The whole circumstance was damning.

Fortunately, as her head and heart argued with her mouth to just _say something_ , Iida saved the day as he stomped over in excitement. "Midoriya!"

Just like he had done to Ochako, Iida wrapped his arms around Izuku in a bear hug that would have surely squeezed the life out of him had he been a scrawnier man. "We haven't spoken in eons! How have you been? How is police work treating you?"

"Great. Great, Iida," Izuku choked as Iida set him down in front of the rest of their friends. Mina and Todoroki silently waved in greeting, but Momo sat her wine glass down on the polished wood counter and put her hands to her hips. "Yes, _where_ have you been?"

"Well, I travel a lot for work. Wherever they need me for a tough case, I get transferred," Izuku informed her, not seeming to understand the trouble he was in.

Momo sighed and ordered, "You need to stay in better contact. You were the most difficult one to get to come to this reunion."

"Is that so?" Todoroki asked in surprise. "I don't even pick up my phone."

Momo shook her head hopelessly and dropped it into her hand. Everyone was difficult, and although it was no surprise that the quiet, aloof Todoroki wouldn't bother to pick up a phone, it was downright shocking that the affable Izuku didn't.

"Yes, seriously," Momo answered, squeezing the bridge of her nose, "At least you have a permanent address I can send letters to...and you open those."

"You have no permanent address?" Mina asked as she cradled her chin in her hands, her elbows resting on the counter. "What about a PO Box?"

"You guys don't understand...I'm really all over the place," Izuku tried again. "I mean, I would make a PO Box, but I'm really not in any one place for too long. If I make one, I may not get to it really ever. All my mail still goes to my mom's apartment and then I get all the mail when I visit her. I've really considered all of that and I've been meaning to call or something, but I get home at crazy hours and I don't want to be bothering anyone on a day off or..."

He was rambling, struggling to address their complaints. Like Ochako, it seemed that he was expecting this sort of interrogation for his shotty communication skills.

"At least you still make time for your mother," Momo said quietly as she took another sip from her glass. "But _we_ want to hear from you, too!"

She had said that just a bit too loud, a bit too stressed, the alcohol having made its presence known again. And Bakugo answered it from the corner with the TV, "Speak for yourself! Don't call me, Deku!"

"You got it, Kacchan! At least there's _someone_ I haven't let down," Izuku answered as if scripted. Bakugo grumbled audibly.

Momo breathed a defeated sigh and straightened her back. Ochako felt the same way – what could really be done? In the end, they didn't have much sway in the way Izuku did things. They didn't really have any right to demand he stay in better contact, although it seemed easier now to ask as it appeared he generally cared. Ochako had never thought for a moment he didn't care, but surely his hero work was his top priority, as it was for all of them. Distractingly so.

"I said this before you arrived, but I think it's something you really need to hear," Momo said, sitting straight with a focus and air of wisdom the girl was known for back in the day. "You're human. You don't have to work so much that you can't call your friends."

"Yeah, I see you on the news all the time. It's like you don't sleep," Mina commented.

"I sleep...sometimes. But I've been on missions that required I be awake for more than twenty-four hours..." Izuku scratched the back of his head. He knew that didn't help his case any. "I like the work, honestly. But yeah, it's been pretty lonely."

Iida piped up. "Then from here on out, might we make a promise? To stay in better contact...and agree now that there is no "bad" time to call?"

"I'll drink to that!" Ochako lifted her glass, now only half empty of its tropical blue elixir. She turned sheepishly to Izuku, hoping that Iida's pact made sense to him. He stood for a moment as the rest of their friends lifted their glasses one by one. It wasn't in a way that seemed as though he was considering if this promise was worth his time. No, it was more like he was considering if it was a promise he could keep. He caught her eyes, and this time Ochako kept them locked, and smiled as a prompt for him to answer. He cracked a grin.

"I'd drink to it, but I don't have a drink," Izuku answered, shrugging. Iida laughed, throwing an arm around Izuku's shoulders, taking that as an affirmation of the pact. Mina jumped up at this.

"Oh! Let me make you this. It's what I'm drinking," she said, bubbly and excited to get someone else hooked on her new favorite concoction.

"Nothing too heavy," Izuku warned, leaning against the counter and looking down to the pink girl crouched behind it. The glass bottles klinked as Mina shuffled through looking for the right ingredients.

Ochako watched as Izuku struggled with Mina, who insisted that this was a party and he needed to relax. She poured him something or other that looked too transparent to be light, and she giggled along with Momo as Izuku, as accommodating as he was, took the shot against his better judgment. His face contorted with the drink's dry sting, complaining to Mina that she certainly just served him rubbing alcohol.

He was too cute like this and Ochako found herself feeling warm at this reconnection. Their days in high school had been like this - one part responsibility, two parts shenanigans. The adversity in their world hadn't taken away their time for "just being kids". Granted, they weren't kids anymore, but still...wasn't there more time for this? For something more constant?

The relief she had felt before was fading now. She hadn't said much more than two words to Izuku or really anyone, and now they were drifting apart to opposite sides of the room. Izuku refused Mina's special mix and headed toward the TV where Kirishima and Kaminari shouted in excitement for him to join them in some virtual fun. Meanwhile, Iida had gotten into a long-winded conversation with Shoji and Tokoyami about current events in their shared work spaces. Something about a villain, clues, the office, and long after-hours. Todoroki stood off to the side of them, listening but seeming quite content in his quiet sphere of influence, swishing around his scotch in bemusement of the world around him. Momo was greeting Kyoka Jirou who was kicking Mina out from behind the counter as official bartender as Tsuyu tried to reason that Mina ought to give Kyoka a chance at it. In the far corner where Izuku had disappeared, Bakugo stood on the sidelines shouting fiercely at Kirishima every time he made a mistake, while Sero and Mineta shouted, booed, and whined at every ridiculous mishap on screen. The whole room and its occupants seemed to be moving like a video played at two times speed as Ochako sat completely paused. Everyone was moving, the noise and voices from either end of the room were blurring together into white noise until she couldn't differentiate them as separate things anymore. Her eyes lazily rested back to Izuku as he concentrated on his character on screen. He seemed so out of reach again. This had been another missed shot, it seemed. Her heart sank.

The sound of a liquid falling into a thick glass came into focus again and Kyoka's low, concerned voice penetrated Ochako's dizzying thoughts. "You okay over there? You look like you're drinking to forget."

"How do you figure that?" Tooru Hagakure's voice asked from the left. Ochako hadn't even noticed the invisible girl had taken the stool right next to her. A cute, ruffled tank top with blue jean short shorts hovered in the shape of a young woman next to her, as the bangles, around where Ochako assumed Tooru's wrists were, jingled as she moved her arms. "She barely drank any of it."

"I've been helping my dad out at his new Rock Bar," Kyoka informed the rest of the girls as she looked down at her own drink. "It's amazing how well you can tell someone's feelings just by how and what they're drinking."

"Oh, yeah?" Mina leaned over the counter in excitement, her stool leaning forward on only two legs. "Tell my fortune, Kyoka! How am I feeling?"

Kyoka gave her an amused side glance, pointed an earphone jack at the pink girl and said, "You're just a party animal. You're here to partake in Momo's free liquor and have a good time with us."

"Damn, she's good," Ochako heard Mina whisper in shock as she sat back onto her stool.

"But when people want to forget, like, a break up or something bad that just happened, they'll throw back shot after shot real quick. Like they're not even tasting it," Jirou explained as she twirled one of her earphone jacks. "But, if it's something they want to forget from a long time ago, some people kinda just nurse one drink absently like they don't know why they ordered it."

Kyoka's eyes playfully zeroed in on Ochako, although she seemed a bit concerned as well. Ochako stiffened. Was she really that obvious?

"Well, Mina made me this," Ochako tried, looking down at the half empty glass in her hands.

"You said you liked it!" Mina whined in response.

"I do!"

Tsuyu brought a long finger to her lip and murmured a bit too loud, "Well, if that's true, then Ochako also _dates_ to forget."

Ochako's face dropped in shock, her eyes became large, and a lump in her throat manifested, making her incapable of choking out much more than, "Tsu...!"

"Sorry, Ochako, I didn't mean to say it out loud, but maybe it would be best to discuss it with the other girls. There hasn't been much I could do for you."

"Oooo, what's going on?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Ochako squeaked.

"You're not fine," Kyoka stated, a jack pointed right at Ochako. She then continued thoughtfully, tapping a finger on her chin "Drinking and dating to forget..." She rolled her eyes with a smirk, as if thinking hard about this, "...Midoriya, I hazard a guess."

Ochako felt her cheeks get red hot and her spirit left her body. By third year, they all knew, not just Tsuyu. As much as she had been keeping her feelings caged like a frenzied animal, it was hard to hide for very long. Mina had guessed it first. After Ochako had made the mistake of admitting to the girls that her heart had been stirred up for some time, Mina had been on a mission to find out who was stirring the pot. And it hadn't been difficult. Ochako still remained very close friends with the object of her affections, and she guessed any subconscious staring, pain, and closeness just made it too obvious. Mina was a good friend though, and never blabbed about it, although she could barely curb her enthusiasm. Same as right now, the pink girl bounced up and down with an abnormally large grin, stifling her giddiness. As much as the pink diva didn't consider any of the boys dating material for one flaw or another, she had found it unbearably adorable that her friend had fallen for one of them despite it.

The other three girls only found out because Ochako decided to tell them during a night of secret sharing. She immediately regretted it. At that moment, Mina and Tooru had become the giggling brigade and Ochako could only thank the stars above that Izuku was as dense as he was not to notice the increased attention. Questions inundated her until graduation, questions like...

"Why don't you just tell him already?" Tooru whined in the present day, shaking her arms in frustration, the bangles klinking rapidly. The question came among more chatter from Mina, Jirou sighing and shaking her head, Tsuyu pleading with them to wait for Ochako, and Momo asking for them to keep their voices low, Todoroki and Iida were still in earshot.

"Everyone just...!" Ochako started with a raised voice, built up into nothing as she slouched back into her drink and finished with a mousy, "...shut up."

"All right, all right, let's calm down everyone," Jirou ordered.

"But really," Tooru said in a calmer, quieter voice. "Can't say it'd be a distraction anymore, we're not in school."

"It's not that simple," Ochako argued weakly from her glass.

There was a collective sigh from the rest of the girls.

"It could be simple, if you let it," Tooru continued on. "Tonight's a brand new opportunity!"

"I suppose..."

Ochako made it sound like she actually considered the sentiment. She knew Tooru meant well. They all meant well. But things were even more different and complicated now. She managed to steer the conversation to other things, namely hero work, something Uravity had a handle on. Just like that, the spotlight faded off her, and the other girls were talking support items, villains, and glory. Ochako made sure to perk up and engage, even if it was the last thing on her mind.

After a good half hour of banter, she excused herself to the bathroom, and was thankful as Mina announced it was time to tap a kidney. She'd rather them all imagine that than her crying...which she wasn't going to do either. Just a splash to the face and a reset was what she needed. To pull out in order to go back in with a better, clean mindset. She needed to tell herself that things were going to be okay now. She would start texting Iida again, going to dinner with the girls, calling Izuku...

As she headed down the corridor to the nearest bathroom, a familiar, flamboyant voice filled her ears.

"Oh, Uraraka, is that you?*" Yuga Aoyama was approaching from the bathroom.

Ochako couldn't remember when he had arrived to the party.

"What's with the long face?*" he asked, genuine concern hiding somewhere on his permanent smile and among the sparkles.

"Oh, you know, just..." Ochako started her explanation but Aoyama was too quick.

"Brooding about your interaction with Midoriya?*"

She couldn't tell if he was teasing her or was just better at guessing these things than even Mina. After all, Aoyama knew about Ochako's feelings before even Ochako had. Just as those feelings were kindling in their first year, Aoyama pointed them out to Ochako during their joint exam against Thirteen. Since that moment, he had known, but never said anything about it again. He seemed to have just prided himself in spreading the embers around and left Ochako alone to deal with the wildfire that ignited afterward.

"What the heck! Why does everyone know?" Ochako whined. "Am I that easy to read?"

" _Oui._ "

Ochako grumbled, but Aoyama, now done teasing her, gently put his hands up and spoke softly. "Now, now, really, what's troubling you, dear?*"

Ochako had crossed her arms over her chest, as if now trying harder to resist any more intrusions. But as close as they weren't, there was something about Aoyama she could always trust. After all, he had never spoken again about his knowledge of her budding affections for Izuku. Even when he befriended the boy in question, no hints were ever dropped as a courtesy to her, and Ochako had appreciated it. Aoyama seemed to know that this was something she had to do on her own terms.

Ochako sighed, but said sternly. "You weren't wrong."

"Ah*," Aoyama nodded quickly. "I did see the whole debacle.*"

"Yeah..." Ochako murmured, squeezing her arms and looking away from the sparkling man. "I just don't know about saying anything tonight like all the girls want me to..."

"What?" Aoyama stammered. "No. No no no no. No. That's ridiculous.*"

Ochako finally loosened. Here was someone who gets it. "Thank you! We haven't spoken in so long...it just doesn't seem right..."

" _Oui_ *," Aoyama agreed. "Granted, you probably should have done all your confessing at graduation. That was probably your best _opportunité_...*"

Wasn't it? Only in hindsight, though. At the time, it still seemed so scary. She had been missing opportunities left and right for years, arguing that those times were just not right. Promises of broken friendship, awkwardness, and distractions littered her excuses when she found herself never committing. She just...loved him too much. Somewhere down the line, his aspirations became just as important to her as her own dreams. She wanted to be close to him, wanted to watch his dreams come true, and confessing...well...it ran the risk of destroying all that. And if that was so, then when would have been a good time? Probably never.

So, she had watched him disappear. After graduation, things only got more difficult. She sullenly convinced herself that, even if she had told him, it wouldn't have kept him close to her. He still would have taken the job with the police, running himself thin, and still not having time for this brand of nonsense, just as Ochako always predicted. That was a self-fulfilling prophecy though, wasn't it? Because here she had done nothing and gotten that same result.

Seeing her brow furrow in building anxiety, Aoyama hummed, questioning what could be taking her so long to continue their conversation. Instead, he continued.

"Nevertheless," he stated. "I don't agree this is a good opportunity. No, it just won't do. You need to start again. __Paris ne s'est pas fait en un jour!__ *"

"So...what should I do?" Ochako asked. She wasn't looking for advice, but instead saw the twinkle in his eye that signified something up his sleeve and she was too curious to ignore it.

"Tell you what," he responded with a flip of his luscious blonde locks. "Find yourself on the balcony in exactly ten minutes."

"What are you going to do?" Ochako squinted her eyes, becoming defensive and immediately coming to the conclusion that his end was the same as Mina's and Tooru's – prompt her to confess.

"I know you have no reason to, but trust me," Aoyama said, still confident and sure. He walked off with a parting, " _Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid!*"_

Ochako didn't know what that meant, but before she could ask, he was gone like a shadow in the light. She stood in the hallway, dumbfounded and not really sure what to do with herself. Sure, she could follow along with Aoyama's schemes or she could ignore it and figure it out on her own. After all, this was her issue...why so many people wanted to be involved with it was beyond her. Then again. What did she have to lose? Her friendship with Izuku was already fading into oblivion as it was. The worst that could happen would be more of the same. Best case scenario, she could rekindle the friendship into something more fortified against the elements of hero life. At the very least, she could be close to him again, even if it wasn't in the romantic sense.

So, she found herself on the balcony, exactly ten minutes from her conversation with Aoyama, as instructed. The dark had set itself in for the night hours ago, the only light illuminating the gorgeous stone balcony was from the lamps and chandeliers back inside. Despite the tall windows, she felt as though the balcony was as private as one could get. Even with the party raging on behind the glass, it was quiet. She leaned against the railing with her arms folded, her elbows becoming cool from the stone. The ten minutes passed, and then another five, and another five.

A cool breeze broke the day's unrelenting heat, and for once this summer, she wasn't sweating. All of her worries blew away with the wind and she began to find herself again.

"Oh, hey, Uraraka!"

Zen lost.

"I didn't know you were out here. I thought you would still be with the other girls."

It was Izuku, clearly as by Aoyama's design. But what had the clever, son of a gun said to get Izuku to come out here if not that Ochako was here and had something to tell him? She glanced inside. The TV where the other boys were playing video games was very close to the windows, but they were all paying attention to the screen, including Aoyama. The blonde match-maker was sitting pretzel style on the floor with a game controller in his hand, nervously trying to play. Normally, she would have expected someone like Aoyama to sip Merlot the whole night, not play video games. He really had done her a favor.

Izuku took the space next to her on the edge of the balcony and leaned against the railing like she was. "I know our conversation ended pretty abruptly before. Sorry about that."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Ochako jumped, shaking her hands, as if to swat his worries away. She had been thankful Iida cut their conversation short then. She hadn't been ready for Izuku.

"Still, I'd like to hear about how you've been doing," he continued. "It's been a while since we spoke."

"It really has," Ochako sighed, "And I've been...fine. Busy, but fine."

"That's good. I figured things were starting to pick up for you when you started calling me less," he said wistfully. He then caught himself and scratched the back of his head. "But, uh, I'm sure that was also my fault."

Ochako gave him a worried glance and he addressed it.

"Well, Yaoyarozu was right. I could be better about answering...anything," he continued on, "It was just so hectic for a while. Every other week I was transferring to a new part of town or a whole new town or going abroad for something or other...but it's no excuse. I had cell service."

Before he could ramble again, Ochako shook her head with a smile. " Well, I probably could have kept calling even if you didn't answer...but it was getting weird..."

She was joking, but Izuku clammed up at the notion, turning to her with such guilt, she regretted it immediately. "I'm just kidding! It's really okay!"

"It is, though?" he asked, still consumed with guilt.

"Well, yeah! I know you're busy! I watch you on TV all the time!"

"You do?"

Ochako caught what she said and her face went red as she remembered exactly what watching news segments featuring him had entailed recently. Nevertheless, she decided to run with it. "Yeah! How else am I supposed to know how you're doing?"

His anxiety returned. "So, you are upset I didn't answer the phone! I'm really sorry!"

Ochako put her hands up to calm him. "No, no, it really is okay, Deku. Honest. I forgive you."

"If you say so," Izuku sighed in unsure relief. They turned to face the blackness beyond the house again, leaning on the railing just an inch apart. A moment swept by. Then another. Her cheeks still hadn't cooled, and she refused to look in his direction again, although she was certain he was also still staring into the abyss. It was awkward, but it was necessary, Ochako told herself. No matter what the end game was here, at the end of the day, she had missed her friend dearly. The fact that said friend also summoned romantic feelings in her was beyond the point. When the silence became too much to bear, Ochako decided any conversation was better than none. After all, Aoyama wasn't feigning a love for video games for nothing.

"Well, uh, to answer your questions...work has been pretty interesting...and exhausting," Ochako interjected into the silence. Izuku seemed to perk up at the sound of her voice...at least that's what she felt from an inch away. "We've been dealing with a lot of recovery missions lately," she elaborated.

The image of the severed hand raced across her mind and she winced.

"That must be rough. I'm sorry," Izuku said, imparting his condolences in a low, soothing tone that sent shivers down her spine. "It's from the downed apartment buildings, right?"

Ochako nodded, staring off into the night.

"That actually reminds me about what I wanted to tell you before Iida dragged me away," Izuku said thoughtfully. "I was transferred to your neck of the woods to work on that case."

Ochako whipped her head around with wide, disbelieving eyes. All this time he had been nothing more than a memory...now all that would change. He'd be closer. So close they could actually keep this friendship going longer than this night. Of course, he was extremely close now, and when she turned towards him, the inch between them became so much more reduced that she could see the more muted freckles on his nose in this dim light. They blinked in unison before realizing the intimacy of the limited space between them. Turning away quickly, they reestablished the friendly boundary once more in a frenzy. Ochako felt the perpetually rosy spots on her cheeks heat up anew.

It took a hell of a lot of self discipline, she figured, on her part, to continually douse this inferno welling up from her heart. Had she been a weaker woman, she probably would have just said "screw it" and blamed it on the alcohol as she distanced the tiny gap that had been between their lips moments ago. Would have dug her fingers into his fluffy hair and pressed her body against his. Would have kept coming back for more from his lips as their breathing became strained and hands wandered...

Her heart sped up at these wild suggestions, the fantasy a recurring chaser to his image. It was all she could do to appease herself in private. But now, it was awkward...mortifying even, and she was glad no one had a mind-reading quirk. Still, this damn blush was telling, even in the dark.

From what she could gather, though, he hadn't noticed. His voice wavered as he explained, trying to fill in the awkward, damning silence. "Yeah, uh, I...the transfer took up a lot of my time. That's why Yaoyarozu was mad. I wasn't...I didn't think I would make it to this tonight. I only got the assignment yesterday."

Another second of silence. The awkwardness from before continued to haunt them like a miserable ghost.

"Well, I'm glad you made time in the end," Ochako commented, still without looking at him, still with hot cheeks.

"Y-yeah, me too." His hands were fidgeting and he continued on. "I thought...or figured...since we'll be living close by each other, maybe we could see each other more? Maybe grab lunch. Or something? You know, if you want to and you have time. I'm not expecting anything...for you to go out of your way, you're really busy and I am too, I just thought..."

When he started to talk too much, her awkwardness transformed into relaxed endearment. She watched him struggle a little while longer while holding in a laugh. His rambling and mumbling was something she expected from him, and she didn't even know why she liked it so much. Where other people found it strange, she knew he needed it to think, like having a full conversation with himself just got the cogs moving, and when he was done, the product was an adroit strategy no one but Deku could come up with. But it backfired sometimes, like now when his kindness and consideration for her limited personal time was getting in the way of asking his friend to lunch once while he was in town. At least that's what she perceived.

Ochako giggled, and finally cut him off for his own health, "I'll definitely fit you in somewhere."

He visibly loosened and smiled brightly. Their reconnection was complete. Friendship saved. Right? Ochako felt like she could look him in the eyes again, and for the next blissful moment, she didn't realize she was staring. Things became effortless again, like when they were in high school. Sure, there were times when the awkwardness between them flared up, but it hadn't stopped them from being together...as friends! Maybe Tooru and Mina had been right. Maybe tonight was as good as any other to just let the truth come out.

Her voice was shaky, but for once her resolve was as strong as the feelings she was about to unveil. She looked down, suddenly unable to meet his gaze. "Hey, Deku..."

"Yeah?" he answered cluelessly.

"Oh, Midoriya~*!" Aoyama's voice came crashing in from the open door.

Ochako had almost forgotten that other people existed.

"Hey, Aoyama. You done playing?"

" _Oui_. In fact, Bakugo would like a challenge, now.*"

Izuku rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Sounds serious. I guess I'll head in then. I'll text you Monday about lunch?"

Ochako nodded, and just like an apparition, he was gone. Ochako was left standing at the edge of the balcony alone again, and Aoyama took Izuku's place next to her holding his cheeks in sparkling glee.

"Oh my! A lunch date for _mon amie chanceux_!*"

"Aoyama, you came at the worst time. I was about to...I was gonna do it."

Aoyama shook his head and booped her on the nose, "You were _not_ supposed to do that. Good thing I intervened."

"You did it on purpose?"

"Of course! This is no setting for confessions...not unless you're inebriated!*"

"But Mina and Tooru..."

"Mina and Tooru are selfish. They want to witness you confess and kiss and become an item, but it's not any of their business. You need a private setting.*"

Ochako threw up her arms. "This felt private!"

"And I was here to remind you it's not.*"

"Then where in this overcrowded city?*"

"I see. Among the clouds, then.*"

"Now I know you're crazy."

Aoyama sighed and moved a shiny blonde lock of hair from his face only for it to fall exactly where it had been. "Since year one, you always knew when the time wasn't right. Give yourself some credit to know when the time _is_ right."

And with that, he was done with her, disappearing back into the party through the immense open doors, never to be seen again. Ochako looked back to the party inside – everyone was here now. Despite the quiet that enveloped her out here on the balcony, it was transparent. Those tall, opulent windows wouldn't have hidden the aftermath of her spilled guts. She made peace with what transpired and ambled her way back inside. Whether Izuku remembered or not, she committed to texting him as promised and lunch would happen. She hoped.

*Note 1: What is Aoyama saying?

 _Oui_ = Yes

 _ _Opportunité__ __ _Opportunity_

 _ _Paris ne s'est pas fait en un jour!__ _Paris was not made in a day!_

 _Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid! =_ _Little by little, the bird builds its nest! (A French saying that means that every little action will get you closer to your goal. I felt it made a lot of sense for what Aoyama's role was in this chapter._

 _Mon amie chanceux =_ My lucky friend.

*Note 2: So names are hard. I wanted to reflect Ochako's closeness with everyone by referring to the girls by their first names and every one else by their last names. Izuku was difficult, because even though she calls him Deku, I wanted to make the "double life" theme apparent by using hero names when they are being heroes in the narration. Sorry if it's confusing, but it was a literary choice.


	3. Reignited

The rest of the weekend had been a blur. Ochako and most of class A stayed at Momo's party until the wee AM hours. After her talk with Izuku, she felt lighter, and better yet, no one had seen them together. Everyone else was consumed with their own lives, even the nosy Tooru and Mina hadn't noticed she was absent for a long while. She tried to keep her euphoria a secret, for she could only imagine the guessing games the other girls would play to try and figure out how in the world her mood flipped one hundred and eighty degrees. Still, Ochako found her bubbly self, with the help of just one more drink concocted by her pink friend, and enjoyed the company. It was seven o'clock in the morning by the time the taxi dropped Ochako off at her apartment building. Monday appeared so quickly afterward that Ochako wondered if Sunday had even existed.

A huge yawn overcame her face as she walked through the doors to the Ryukyu offices, and Nejire Hado was there to point it out.

"That's a big yawn!" the blue-haired heroine commented with a giggle.

"Yeah, got knocked right off my sleep schedule," Ochako answered, moving past Nejire absentmindedly. "How was the weekend shift?" 

"The 'Q' word," Nejire answered. The office was playfully superstitious, and there was an unspoken rule to never say "quiet" when describing how work was going, for there would surely be an emergency to attend to after its utterance. Ochako nodded at Nejire. Made sense; she had actually had the weekend to herself for once and not a single call-in. "Ryukyu covered the whole weekend, so she won't be in until night shift. She left me this list of reminders."

Nejire waved around the piece of paper in her hand as she leaned up against the front desk. "Go get dressed, because I'm going to have to have you do the morning patrol...and also the afternoon one, too."

"Was Flashlight on weekend duty, too?"

"Nope. He's here. He's gonna go a little later than you – and going all by himself! Isn't that so great? It was Ryukyu's orders. Right here on the note. I'm so proud!"

Ochako smiled. It was about time Youta Kaijudento, hero name: Flashlight, started going out on his own and feel out the route for himself.

"He'll take South side, you take North side. Then you need to be back around noontime to get your intern, remember?"

Ochako had almost forgotten. "Right, right, I'm guessing you want me to take him for the afternoon walk, huh?"

"That's right~!" Nejire said in a sing-song voice, nodding happily. "I have a bunch of stuff to take care of in the office today. We're getting a new case, we'll be getting at least one visitor, and I need to be here to see the work-studies..."

"Don't worry about it! We'll handle the patrols," Ochako assured her elder.

She quickly made her way to the locker rooms to change. It was already after eight, which meant the office hadn't been on patrol for at least three hours. There were other offices in the district, but it was important to keep a presence.

Ochako quickly donned her pink and black suit and emerged from the locker room as Uravity. She checked herself in the wall mirror as she passed by. Confident, strong, and successful...this alter ego thing was pretty all right. Her costume was generally the same as it had been in school - with the large, pink boots and pressure point bracers, she was ready to fly. She was also ready to be a first responder. A matching fanny pack now also hung off her waist that carried the essentials – her radio, her phone, and first aid materials. Compared to the villain take-downs and major disasters she had answered during her short tenure, the first aid calls were infinite.

Youta Kaijudento also emerged from the locker room in his alter ego, Flashlight, and he shot a thumbs up to her, ready for a new day, with a new bout of confidence to get through it. He hung back as instructed by Nejire, and Uravity skipped out of the office and onto the sidewalk.

Uravity was a familiar sight to the people of her district, especially to commuters. Her shifts usually ranged during the day time, taking patrol usually during rush hour when everyone was heading to work or going home. People waved to her with smiling faces as they boarded the bus, and she waved back, doing her best to be bright and approachable, no matter the atmosphere, no matter the calls from days prior. Uravity enjoyed this time of day. Although there was nothing like taking down a villain, she had to admit that daytime patrol was the best time. Everyone was too busy trying to get to work to be committing crimes, and the lion's share of her rescues were from car accidents.

An hour into her shift, Uravity found herself spacing out. She had walked this route a million times, or so it seemed, and she found herself forgetting how she even got to this point in front of a hair salon. The street was still bustling with cars, but by now, anyone getting to work this morning had arrived already. Uravity smacked both her cheeks in unison in an attempt to wake up and pay attention. Now was the time for petty, inexperienced robbers to do their bidding in broad daylight. Another hour passed and her radio remained silent and her phone didn't buzz.

Nejire had been right. _It was quiet_...

At that very thought, her phone buzzed once. A text. She rolled her eyes at how the universe worked and opened her phone, expecting to see a message from Nejire or Flashlight about some emergency or other. But it wasn't either of them, and the name on her cell phone screen reduced her back into Ochako standing there in Uravity's skin.

 _-_ Deku: _Are you in the office today?_

She didn't know how to respond. She didn't know why she didn't know how to respond. Then it all came back to her – the reunion, the drinks, the talk...

 _Oh right, he's probably trying to set up lunch for today!_ Ochako thought. She hastily answered, typing each letter painfully slow on her pink flip phone.

- _On patrol. Idk about lunch. Have an intern I forgot about today._

She sent the message and then stood in place, frozen like a statue, waiting for her phone to buzz again. Only a minute passed, but her heart still sank. Worried and unnecessarily anxious, she typed to him again.

-Rain-check _?_

He responded immediately.

-Deku: _Of course._

She breathed a sigh of relief and put her phone back in her fanny pack. The rest of the morning went along smoothly, uneventfully. When her cell phone alarm warned her it was 11:30, she turned around and walked briskly back to the Ryukyu offices.

In fifteen minutes, she reached the office building and entered the glass doors. Nejire was at Ryukyu's desk shuffling through files, prepared in her own hero costume now. As Ochako passed by, the older girl waved to her.

"Uravity! I forgot to tell you something this morning," Nejire admitted. "So, I was reading the really long note Ryukyu left for me...do you remember the apartment building collapse last week? And last month? And the one the month before that?"

"Vividly..." Ochako answered, somewhat unnerved. She would have given anything to forget them, honestly, but they stuck in her brain like chewing gum in hair. The severed hand whisked through her mind again, and she sighed, trying to will it away, only for it to be replaced by the other gruesome things she'd been forced to endure. Charred bodies...some of them small...

"Oh...well, since our office was a part of all the clean-up and recovery missions associated with them, the police department wants us to partner with them to catch the villain responsible," Nejire went on to explain. "There are a couple other offices in the district and outside offices that are being held on standby, but yeah, we got the case!"

"That's great," Ochako said, not exactly ecstatic about the promise of more recovery missions.

Nejire didn't seem to notice as she continued, "So, long story short, Ryukyu thinks you should take this case. You're number one on it!"

Ochako's eyes widened as a lump in her throat threatened to strangle her. A case like this, of this magnitude, dropped into her lap without much warning... She remembered that Ryukyu promised to hand the next big case to her as a test to see if she was worthy of becoming a "pro-partner", but she hadn't expected it so quickly. All this, on top of mentoring a new intern. She bit her bottom lip to quell the disquiet building in her mind. Nejire stood before her with the widest, proudest smile on her face, and Ochako loosened, borrowing some confidence from her elder. Nejire wasn't a dense girl, though, and she noticed the slight pangs of nerves in her underling immediately.

"You're not working on this alone," the older girl assured. "The police department sent one of their own as a partner. So, while he's doing the more detective-y stuff, you're going to be assisting, and providing details of the recoveries, and hopefully working out a plan to catch the villain."

"Wait, someone is here already? From the police department?" Ochako inquired, suddenly putting the pieces of information together to form the new reality that was steadily making itself known.

"Yeah, he's in the file room right now," Nejire answered pointing to the over-sized closet across the building. "Hey, I think you might know him..."

Ochako's mind was spinning. There was no way the universe worked like that, did it? She absentmindedly said something in closing to Nejire as she whipped around and made a beeline towards the file room in a power-walk, not too frenzied to tip off Nejire, but fast enough to immediately dispel the utter suspense writhing through her. She held onto the door frame as she peeked into the file room, a private, windowless room lined with file cabinets and other office supplies. On the floor he sat, leafing through the office files, no doubt digging up their reports on the downed apartment buildings.

Unfortunately for poor Ochako's heart, he was too well aware of his surroundings and she hadn't exactly been quiet. His emerald eyes met hers through the relentless green mess of fluff, wide and waiting for her to maybe say hello.

"You're...you're _here_?" Fantastic start.

"I am...I told you I was working on this case, didn't I?" 

"You didn't say you were working on it in _my_ office!"

"I only found that out this morning, too!"

"We were texting this morning! Why didn't you tell me you were here?"

"I figured you'd find out in two hours!"

"Deku!"

"So, you guys _do_ know each other!" Nejire popped in, as if her quirk were teleportation. Ochako jumped at the sudden voice in her ear. "Yeah, yeah, now I remember...you guys were in the same first year class when me, Togata, and Amajiki were in third year at UA. Yeah! It's all coming back..."

Deku stood up from the open drawer with a few files in his gloved hands and smiled to Nejire. "Good to hear."

"Yeah, sorry about this morning...takes a cup of coffee or two these days," Nejire admitted brightly as she headed back to Ryukyu's desk.

Ochako stared, still in shock, as Deku passed her with the files and sat at an empty desk in the main room. Usually, the desks here would be occupied by work-studies, but Ochako figured if they had any, Nejire probably sent them off on patrol with Flashlight. Upon the desk Deku claimed was also a laptop and other folders whose contents were spilled across the surface. A few file boxes were stacked nearby, some of which were discolored and sagging with age.

"So, we'll be working together, it seems," Deku's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Y-yeah!" Ochako nervously answered. "I have the intern coming in very soon...perhaps you can get us up to speed when he gets here..." She looked up at the black and white clock behind Deku, read 12:00, and sighed. Right on time. "He actually should be here now."

Ochako turned around and headed back towards the front doors, attempting to reestablish herself as Uravity. She needed to be professional, authoritative. The intern was a student from UA, so she needed to get on the Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic level. On any other day, that may not have been too hard, but with Deku thrown into the mix, she found herself see-sawing between capable hero and bumbling girl with a crush. She took a deep breath and arrived at the lobby where she saw Nejire welcoming in a new hero she guessed was Asuka Dakuro, her intern.

He was pretty tall, with raven black hair that fell straight and past his ears, but also stuck up like ruffled feathers on the top of his head. He seemed pretty warm and welcoming as he spoke with Nejire, despite his all-black attire. Uravity guessed the heavy black shorts, combat boots, and long jacket were cosmetic choices all to tie in with his hero name, Krow. The look would not have been complete without his quirk - two giant, black corvid wings he neatly folded behind him.

"And there she is!" Nejire noticed her from the corner of her eye.

Uravity waved, "You must be Dakuro...er, Krow! Welcome to the team!"

"I'm positive Ryukyu already mentioned this, but I'll say it anyway," Nejire explained between them. "You'll be working directly under Uravity here, and she's been assigned a new case just today, so, you should be learning a lot!"

"It's so cool to meet you in person, Uravity!" Krow extended his large hand to shake, coupled with an equally large smile. "I'm pretty excited to get started."

"Good to hear! This one's going to be a doozy," Uravity shook his outstretched hand. She then thoughtfully turned to Nejire. "Um, actually, Nejire, do you think there's time to introduce him to Deku? If we're going to all be working on this case, we should probably get more acquainted with each other and the case itself."

Nejire nodded as she turned away. "Totally! Go for it! Flashlight shouldn't be back for a little while."

Uravity led Krow inside over to where Deku was working, and Nejire followed. Deku looked up as they all approached and stopped at the edge of the desk.

"Deku, this is Asuka Dakuro, the intern I was telling you about. His hero name is Krow," Uravity introduced the budding hero-in-training.

Deku got up from his chair and the two young men shared a strong handshake in shared camaraderie. "I guess that means you'll be working with us on this case?"

"Hell yeah! I'm so pumped!" Krow shouted.

Nejire piped in as she sat on a neighboring desk, "Ryukyu wouldn't tell us the full extent of your quirk! She wanted you to introduce it to us, but I can see you're a bird! So, you can fly, right?"

"Y-yes, I can fly. I've been practicing since I could carry my own body weight, and can reach some serious heights," Krow answered bashfully. "But uh, that's kind of a secondary thing."

Krow seemed to shift on his heels, becoming quiet, a light blush painting his cheeks pink.

"Well, what else can you do?" Nejire prodded.

"I, uh..." Krow scratched the back of his head as he looked around the room for the right words. He then sighed and said, with more confidence. "Let's just say my quirk is called "Angel of Death". Ever since I can remember, I can sense the dead and dying from a distance, without looking. My quirk factor is in my nose, so for me, it's like a smell...but, uh, I mean it doesn't smell bad? I just know what it means..."

"That's a pretty amazing quirk," Deku commented. "And flying gives you such an edge! You can canvas a huge area and pinpoint victims way faster than whole recovery crews!"

Krow was shocked, and Uravity guessed he was assuming they would think his quirk quite macabre. Perhaps lots of people in his past thought it was. He was too inexperienced to know the truly horrifying things real heroes saw everyday. He may have guessed, but never truly realized how incredibly useful his quirk could be.

"Yeah, we really could have used a quirk like that at the downed building last week," Uravity added. The praise was visibly melting Krow's embarrassment away, and he smiled. "But I have to ask...why the hero name _Krow_? The quirk sounds more like what a vulture can do."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Krow sighed, defeated.

"No, it's really such a smart name!" Deku gushed to his fellow young hero. "It relates to the European myths associating crows with death, right?"

Krow lit up. "Yes! Thanks, man! _Finally_ , someone I don't have to explain it to. Crows are also scavengers...they eat carrion just like vultures do, so that's why they're associated with death and graveyards. I figured I would shoulder it and become a hero in support of my fellow corvids."

He posed, one hand on his hip and the other pointing at himself with his thumb, smirking. Deku and Uravity laughed, but Nejire leaned forward, intrigued. "Is that really why you wanted to be a hero?"

"N-no," Krow held up his hands in defense, clearly unaccustomed to Nejire's child-like curiosity. He became serious, considering the atmosphere and his own past. "I became a hero because I can...smell death...and...ya know, I was sick of not being able to do anything about it."

Uravity patted him on the shoulder. "That sounds like what a true hero would say!" Krow smiled again, the pink reappearing on his cheeks. It was clear to her that Krow was exactly the way she and Deku had been when they were in school. Ambitious, with a drive to make the world a little less dark. Uravity could only imagine the torture of having a quirk like that, though. The young Dakuro must have grown up being unaware of what he was smelling all the time, and his parents, if either of them shared the quirk, were probably unable or unwilling to really tell him the truth. Unless he found out on his own... His quirk probably never made him popular in school and she wondered if he ever shared it much, given by the way he clammed up telling his hero agency about it.

"Heh, thanks!" Krow said. "So, now that we all know my quirk, and I already know yours, what's this villain's quirk?"

Deku answered. "Good question. That's one of the mysteries we need to solve."

Deku dug out a piece of paper from the mess on his desk, reading the wording there and scouring it for an answer. "So far, no one really knows what his quirk is for sure or how it works, but it seems to be an explosive kind of quirk..."

He mulled around the thought and rested his gaze on Uravity. She felt the notion like a sixth sense.

"Kinda like Kacchan/Bakugo," Deku and Uravity said at the same time, and then both grinned, leaving Nejire and Krow to stand confused.

Bakugo probably sneezed twice where ever he was at the moment.

Deku continued, "However, no one's really seen him use it, so we can't be certain how he does it. All I have to go on right now is that he's newly arrived in Japan...he's originally from America...or at least, that's what we think right now. There were extremely similar cases, with really similar modus operandi, that happened in Alaska almost twenty years ago."

Krow shuffled a bit. "Am I the only one who doesn't know what a modus operandi is?"

Uravity took this chance to fully step into the role of teacher as she gently turned to her student and said, "It's basically the how, when, and where a criminal commits crimes."

Krow nodded in understanding. That was easy enough.

"Except we don't really know the how, don't understand the when, and where is now a wholly different country. His motive is also a mystery. All that has remained the same is the destruction he causes and the informed way he does it. He seems to understand how buildings are built and the best way to break them. All we have to go on is cold case files and the recent reports of the downed apartment buildings. Not to mention it appears that he is capable or willing to work with other villains, so their motives need to be discovered as well and then we can assume they have similar ideals..." Deku explained with his hand to his chin, and his voice becoming a studious mutter.

Like everyone who didn't know Izuku Midoriya, Nejire and Krow became a little unnerved as his thoughts spilled out of his mouth as quieter and quieter mumbles that Uravity was convinced only Ochako could hear. Uravity cut him off, "It sounds like you have your work cut out for you, then! I know you'll figure it out!"

Deku stopped muttering and grinned at her familiar encouragement. "Thanks! I really should get back to it, then."

"Yup, and we," she addressed Krow, "Ought to go out on our first walk."

"Walk?"

"Area patrol."

"Great timing. Flashlight should be back any moment," Nejire commented.

The three of them let Deku be at his desk to become quickly engrossed back into the case filings he retrieved prior. As Uravity and Krow passed the main desk where Nejire stopped following, she felt the need to warn the older girl.

"Just so you know, he's probably going to be muttering like that all day," Uravity informed Nejire weakly.

Nejire grimaced. "He's gonna scare my work-studies."

Both girls giggled nervously, but Nejire was still deadly serious. "Why don't you put him in my cubicle, then?" Uravity suggested. "It will give him more privacy. Don't tell him you're moving him over the muttering."

"Fine with me!" Nejire said as she went back to her own file stacked on Ryukyu's main desk. With that, Uravity turned and led Krow outside into the blazing summer heat.

She was glad her hero suit was so thin. Besides her helmet, the suit let her breathe. In the winter, she would opt for a thicker version, but for now, she had to wonder how Krow was surviving. He didn't seem to mind the heat, and Uravity guessed that there were just some people accustomed to the equivalent of an oven. The sidewalks were definitely hot enough now to cook eggs, and thankfully it was after noon – the sun was starting its journey back down towards the horizon, creating shadows behind the buildings. They turned their first corner and were relieved of the sun's rays.

Krow was visibly pumped, still, too excited to let the heat damper his attitude.

"So, I get to work under you and Deku? I can't believe it, this is my lucky day!"

She arched her eyebrow, then softened. Were all guys this into heroes? "Seems like you have a thing for sidekicks."

"Well, yeah, you're all so relatable. Watching sidekicks become full fledged heroes...nothing beats that!" Krow said enthusiastically. Uravity had to admit he had a point. After all, once he was out of school, he'd hopefully be a sidekick himself somewhere. In that case, big, top ten heroes like Ryukyu weren't a good judge of the near future. Unfortunately, she couldn't continue the conversation as another voice butted in, an annoyed shudder ran through her.

"Uravity!" called a hulking voice from behind the pair. "Got yourself an intern?"

She knew who this was – enough time in this district had helped her become acutely aware of the heroes and sidekicks in neighboring offices. In fact, the Ryukyu office shared much of its coverage and patrol routes with them, so Uravity had come to know everyone, including this sidekick clad in white and red.

"Good afternoon, Current," Uravity answered the electric-based sidekick. Despite his quirk, the guy was nothing like Kaminari and reminded her more of Sato. Huge, muscular, and not the handsomest creature in town, he towered over even the lanky Krow. Had she been a shallower lady, she could have likened him to an ogre, but at least his demeanor was friendly...for the most part. If anything, Uravity found him irritating, but she could remain civil. "This is Krow, our newest intern. He just started today."

"I bet he's got some dark powers," Current guessed, leaning into Krow with a hand clasped to his chin, obviously coming to this conclusion from Krow's black clothes. "He's like a mix of Hawks and that other bird sidekick...what's his name?"

"You're comparing me to Tsukuyomi? Thanks, guy!" Krow clearly appreciated the sentiment of being likened to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, throwing Current for a loop. Uravity smiled – it seemed that Krow appreciated everyone from her former class, no doubt because they all shared the same Alma mater. If he was striving to be at least on par with Deku, Tsukuyomi, and her other classmates, he was going places.

"Yeah, sure kid. Try to be your own person, though...you're not going to go anywhere being like other heroes," Current didn't let him down gently and Krow stood there, thankfully unconvinced. How dare he try to crush her student's enthusiasm? She remained calm and hoped that was the end of his aggravating, blunt behavior. But it wasn't.

Current turned his attention away from Krow and squarely on Uravity where she least wanted it.

"Anyway, Uravity, I've been thinkin'. If today turns out to be quiet again, perhaps I can pick you up at the offices later for some dinner? I saw the ramen bar finally opened up a few blocks down...could be a great place for our first date."

And how dare he use the "Q" word! Now she knew something would come up on this patrol, but at least Krow would get some experience.

For all the pros the morning and afternoon rush hour patrols had, this was the con – Current was on duty. If their paths ever crossed, it was always taken as an opportunity to ask her out. Uravity sighed, knowing this was coming, but had hoped it wouldn't as long as Krow had been standing there. Fat chance. She always let him down gently, though, in hopes he'd take the hint. So many finer gentlemen hadn't been given a chance, and they took it in stride and assumed she was a busy woman. Of course they would – that's the reason she would give before she realized what the real reason was. Now that the really good reason was muttering over case files back at the office, Uravity's patience with Current had run dry.

She giggled in frustration, something only Krow captured. "What part of "no" didn't you get last time, Current?"

"Aw, c'mon Uravity. It's one date. It won't kill you," Current pleaded and whined. "Gimme a chance! I think we could be great together!"

He was almost as bad as Mineta. Almost. "I'll see you tomorrow, Current! Krow and I have more ground to cover!"

And with that, Uravity continued to walk straight on their intended path, with plans to change up the route to avoid anymore interactions with her stubborn admirer. Krow caught up with her as she turned down an avenue.

"Well, that was weird," Krow commented when he caught up to her side.

"Yeah, well, we're all still human with human problems," Uravity said exasperated, shrugging with a smirk that indicated how done she was with Current's relentless begging.

Krow asked seriously, "Why didn't you just tell that guy you have a boyfriend?"

Uravity answered, "Just 'cause I don't want to date him doesn't mean I want to lie to him. He should just accept I'm not interested."

Krow looked forward, a wave of confusion washing over him as his brow furrowed in thought. "Oh...no...I didn't mean to lie to him. He _should_ take no for an answer. I actually thought you had a boyfriend...like...I don't know, it looked like you were seeing Deku."

"Ehhhh?!" Uravity stopped and spun around to face her confused student, the memories of her talk with Izuku and her wild desires from the past weekend presented themselves in her mind like exhibits to a crime she committed. Her voice rose an octave. "Who? What? Gave you that idea?"

Krow shrugged. "Yeah, I guess the media would be all over that if it were true. You guys just seemed so close before..."

Uravity took a breath to steady herself.

"Oh...we were best friends in high school. We were in the same class," Uravity explained. "We even took the entrance exam together."

"Okay, that I didn't know. That's so cool!" Krow said, completely missing the blush on his sensei's cheeks. "I didn't know you guys had been in the same class. You were graduating third-years the year I started at UA."

"Yup!" Uravity squeaked, leading the conversation away from her prospects in being with Izuku. "Red Riot, Ingenium, Tsukuyomi, Creati, GroundZero...we were all in the same class!"

"Whoa, that's nuts! You guys must have been a master class!" Krow gushed. "I'd love to meet all of them!"

Uravity nodded. Perhaps that could be arranged, what with the case they were working on, they'd need outside support at some point, she figured.

As they continued on their walk, it became more routine. They grabbed lunch at a local deli and became more acquainted. Uravity gauged what Krow already knew about basic hero work, assuming correctly that he'd had work-study sessions before, scored above average in class, and even had a previous internship in his second year.

"Does it bother you that people compare you to Hawks all the time?"

"Nah. I interned with him last year, and beside the bird thing, we're pretty different."

"How's that?"

"He's more of an undercover kinda guy and I'd prefer to do more rescue and recovery. That's why I switched to Ryukyu's office. I know that's not all you do, but I think my quirk could get more use with you all."

"Well, we're glad to have you on board. I hate to say this, but I expect we'll have work we could use your quirk at sooner than later."

Krow nodded knowingly, keeping his eyes on the pavement. That was the point of his being here, after all. "I guess, the more time it takes Deku and the police department to figure this guy out, the more casualties there will be."

Uravity nodded. "Yeah...villains don't stop until they are stopped."

As the pair approached a large, city bank, two young women clad in summer dresses exited and walked down the steps. One of them caught sight of Uravity, slapped the other girl on the shoulder, and both of them became quite excited. They bounded down the steps and up to their favorite pink hero. Uravity breathed a sigh of relief. Fans!

"Uravity! Uravity! Thank you for all your hard work!" one shouted.

"We saw you working so hard with that other sidekick last week on the news!" the other said. "We hope you catch that fiend!"

Uravity beamed. "Thank you both. Lots of offices and the police are working hard on the case."

One woman turned to Krow. "Are you another sidekick? You'll learn a lot from Uravity!"

"Oh, I'm just an intern," Krow said bashfully, scratching the back of his head.

"This is Krow. He's a student at UA and just started his internship with our office today," Uravity said to her fans.

"What's your quirk?" one of the woman asked, intrigued.

Krow became even more nervous at this question. Expected as it was, Uravity was sure they wouldn't be as accepting as Nejire and Deku had been.

"Well, y'see, it's-" Krow started to find the words but cut himself off, becoming deathly silent. He sniffed the air like a distracted canine, his face turning stern. He looked past the women, who had become rightfully creeped out, and straight ahead to the bank they had exited just minutes before. "Uravity, could you follow me?"

"Uh, sure," she answered, and turned back to her fans. "Sorry, excuse us."

"That's fine," one said. Both women watched in confusion as the heroes walked past them down the sidewalk.

Krow stopped just in front of the bank. It was a large, rectangular building nestled between two taller buildings, stairs spreading wide onto the sidewalk from the entrance. Peering through the glass doors to the line of people waiting for the teller, Krow stared inside waiting for the ball to drop. Uravity looked inside as well when she caught up to him. Although she saw nothing out of the ordinary, now that she knew the scope of his quirk, she held her breath.

At that moment, an elderly man in shorts and a t-shirt clutched his arm, his face straining his eyes shut in pain. He then fell to the marble floor as the young woman beside him screamed in shock, her face contorting into a visage of worry and fear. She fell to her knees just beside him. The young heroes sprang into action, bounding up the steps and crashing through the door.

"Please stand back, everyone! Give him some space! We're both heroes on duty," Uravity shouted to the crowd who had moved in, as if instinctively, to get a better look at the emergency.

Thankfully, the sea of confused and concerned faces backed away and both heroes plopped down to the floor on their knees on either side of the patient. Krow nodded quickly to Uravity that his quirk was telling him this was serious. He avoided saying too much, or anything, really, waiting for Uravity's lead.

"Okay. Follow me. I'll start compressions, you'll be back up," Uravity said seriously. This wasn't her first time administering first aid, and thankfully it seemed that Krow also knew what to do. He nodded confidently and then turned to the teller behind him. "You! Call 911!"

He turned to another teller. "Get us the AED, if you have one."

Meanwhile, Uravity quickly retrieved two rubber thimbles and put one on each thumb – the last thing she needed was to make this guy float. She then put her left hand on top of the right balled in a flat fist, rested this arrangement on the patient's chest and used all of her weight to push down over and over again as she counted to thirty. He was a fairly large man, older but not as elderly as she had first thought. His hair was black but heavily sprinkled with white to show his age, like salt and pepper. Wrinkles had begun to crinkle and crease the skin on his forehead and near his eyes. When her count reached thirty, she stopped to rest. Pushing down on this man's chest enough to do anything was taking everything out of her and she exhaled audibly. She then went back at it for another thirty compressions.

For this minute, Krow sat on his knees vigilant, waiting to be passed the torch. He spread his wings to ensure people were staying at a distance, but the crowd couldn't help but gawk, whisper, and murmur. No one else was coming forward with first aid experience, so it was just going to be the two of them, Uravity thought grimly. Her back was already starting to ache.

The only person Krow couldn't keep away was the young woman who had been with the man prior. She was now in tears, clutching her purple purse to her own chest, her blonde bangs sticking to her forehead from nervous sweat.

"Will my dad be okay? What is happening?" she sobbed as Uravity finished her second round.

She exhaled loudly again, exhausted. The anti-gravity hero nodded to her young charge to begin his set.

"We're doing everything we can," Uravity assured the young woman in a stern, confident voice.

She made sure not to smile, made sure not to promise anything. She wasn't sure what was going on with this man, but the grim look in Krow's eyes told her it wasn't good. She couldn't promise much to this woman, not much older than she. Again, Uravity pushed away the suggestion that they had something in common. The idea that she could be in this situation one day with her own beloved father threatened to strain her focus. The woman choked and hiccuped on her own sobs as she nodded.

The commotion in the bank quieted and Uravity could hear the wail of an ambulance in the distance ever so slightly. Damn, they were quick. Perhaps someone had already been on the horn when they burst through the doors. Perhaps the roads were clear enough to let the ambulance run at full speed to their location. Perhaps the ambulance hadn't been far away to begin with. Whatever it was, she was thankful.

"Please save him!" the woman cried again, loudly in her ears.

Krow finished his set of compressions and then another before Uravity took over again. He took a deep breath and cracked his fingers.

"I guess they don't have an AED?" Krow murmured. "They gotta, it's a bank, right?"

Uravity couldn't answer because she was counting, but she also wondered what was taking so long. She had to remember it had only been a few minutes since they began.

"I see the ambulance! It's almost here!" yelped a man with compound eyes at the front door.

A bunch of civilians had put themselves on door duty, shooing other customers away as they tried to enter the bank. Uravity was always so glad when people stepped up to help – there was only so much a sidekick and her intern could do. They didn't have the equipment, nor the advanced training in medicine, or even a Recovery Girl-like quirk to really save this man. This really was all on the paramedics who were closing in on their location.

Uravity had to admit she was impressed with Krow. He had trusted his quirk and they arrived on scene faster than anyone could have asked for because of it. She mused that if she had been on this patrol by herself, those precious seconds, perhaps even whole minutes, could have been lost. Still, the ambulance seemed like it was coming down the street in slow motion as Uravity and Krow switched again.

Finally, one of the bank staff emerged from a far corridor at the back of the bank with the AED, and rushed to their location just as the paramedics were let in by the civilians at the door. In a flash, both Uravity and Krow disengaged from the man on the floor to hand the scene over to humanity's first aid heroes. The rest was a blur as Uravity and Krow instantly switched to crowd control, keeping people at a distance. The people in the bank watched as the man was whisked away in the ambulance, his daughter jumping into the cab, too. Police were on scene just as quickly.

"He may have been saved thanks to your quick response! Thank you," the police officer said as he finished getting his statement from Uravity.

"All in a day's work, sir," Uravity nodded. She noticed Krow as the police officer walked away, his face still full of grief. Uravity cocked her head to the side in question, and Krow shook his head as he heavily stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Not here," he mouthed.

"Well, we can leave," Uravity told him. "No need for any clean up. We've already thanked everyone for helping. We can go."

"Yeah...I'd like that," Krow said in a low voice.

Once out on the street and passed the crowd that had only just begun to disperse, Krow spoke, disappointed.

"That guy is...not making it," Krow told Uravity. "We did everything, but it was really no use. And I knew it the whole time."

"Is that why you were so quiet?"

"Yeah, but...this is just the one thing I never get and no one has really explained it to me."

Krow stopped on the sidewalk, his hands still in his pockets. The afternoon was transforming into evening now, the sun getting lower, the sky turning into a darker yellow, almost orange. The heat lingered though, even in the shadows cast by the towering buildings. Uravity stayed silent, letting Krow elaborate.

"I knew he wasn't going to make it. I knew it. That was the truth. That's what we were dealing with. Didn't his daughter deserve to know that?"

"They don't want to hear that."

" _But it's the truth_."

Uravity nodded. He was so skilled already and yet so naive. She couldn't be surprised, though. She had been this naive, too, once. During all their training she guessed that bedside manner was an after thought. Even during the License Exam, they weren't told why one way to talk to victims was better than others. Why downplaying obvious disaster was preferred over the truth. Yes, this was a victim's worst day ever, but didn't they deserve the truth, an agreement, a validation of their worry? No.

"People say they want the truth. They ask what's going on and they think they want to hear the honest breakdown," Uravity started. "But they really don't want it. They won't accept it. Especially in that situation...if we told that woman her father was going to die no matter what we did, she wouldn't believe it."

Uravity bit her lip. She wasn't a psychologist. How could she explain people's stubbornness in times of crisis? Or how gullible they could be? How much they wanted to cling to good news, even when it was fabricated and made no sense? When it was an obvious lie? "Everything will be okay." she remembered herself saying to countless people, some of whom never saw the outside of their hospital rooms afterward. Was she a liar? Even when she had told the truth, all they would scream was "No! No! It can't be!"

Uravity shook those memories from her mind and addressed Krow, who was still confused. She knew he'd only learn the virtues of small words and fake positivity with more experience.

"She would have blamed us instead," Uravity said quietly. "She would have assumed we didn't give it our all. It's just better to tell them we are doing everything we can. Be neutral, or be positive, even if it's a lie."

"That really...sucks," Krow murmured.

"It does, but...it _is_ still the truth," she tried. "We _are_ trying our best. And then when our best isn't enough, they forgive us because they believe we were just as hopeful as they were. That we were there with them."

"I guess that makes sense...still, that doesn't sound very heroic."

She couldn't agree more, but the results didn't lie. Calming people down was the only way to ensure they cooperated, and if that meant withholding the truth, then so be it. Uravity wasn't sure if Krow understood still, but it wasn't something she could teach him. He'd have to muddle and meander through that darkness of the real world heroes faced himself.

The rest of their walk was pretty silent and unremarkable. It seemed Current's use of "quiet" was worth only one emergency today. As the sun snuck behind the buildings and cast the city in a twilight afterglow, Uravity and Krow headed back to the Ryukyu offices. They'd have to file the report, and she'd have to show him how to go about that. Find the form. Fill it out. File it away. Report to Ryukyu what a fine job her new intern was already doing. Say goodbye for the day.

Uravity parted with Krow and made her way to the locker room to change. Her hero costume, as breathable as it was, was still soaked with sweat. She stepped into the stall and peeled Uravity off her skin to reveal plain Ochako again. The pink and black suit would have to go through the wash tonight if she was to wear it again tomorrow for the usual grind. The cool air brushed against her naked skin, lapping up the sweat, leaving her cold. She wiped away the moisture with an old towel she kept in the shower stall.

As she changed, she heard some rustling next door.

"That you, Youta?" Ochako called out.

"Yes, ma'am," he called back, perhaps also peeling off his hero, Flashlight, from his clammy skin.

"Get anything on your stroll with the work-studies?"

"Nada. You?"

"Well, we ran into Current."

"Oh, joy."

"Yep. And he had the audacity to say the "Q" word..."

"And ya got something, huh?"

"You bet. Nice cardiac arrest."

"That guy's a dick. Why don't you take the South walk tomorrow?"

"I'm thinkin' 'bout it." Ochako called back as she put on her street clothes and emerged from the stall. She could faintly smell the stink of her own sweat, and applied deodorant before leaving. Youta hadn't exited with her.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow," Ochako shouted back.

"See ya!" he answered as the door closed behind her.

She had no reason to, but Ochako strolled over to her cubicle and should not have been surprised to see Deku there. He was still clad in his green hero costume, rummaging and muttering over the case files, all these hours.

"You're...you're going to burn yourself out," Ochako said shakily from the door frame.

He jumped slightly from the sudden sound of her voice, and Ochako guessed he had been mostly alone all day with his thoughts.

"Please tell me you at least ate something since I last saw you," she added.

"Yes! Yeah, I did," he answered, quick to assure her, a bit of red streaked across his face. He had to know that she would worry about him. "How was...your patrol with Krow? He seems like a good guy."

"Mostly uneventful, but we had some action," Ochako summarized with a shrug. "It's getting late, and I'm gonna to head home, now. Maybe you should too? We can work on the case again tomorrow with fresh eyes."

Deku stared at her for a moment, then looked down at the mess of papers ahead of him. She could see it on his face – he hadn't gotten very far today and it weighed heavily on him. What Krow had said earlier that day was true – the longer it took to catch this villain, the more casualties there would be. Even after two years fully thrust into hero work, his heart was still soft and Ochako had to admire that. The job could wear down even the most stalwart heroes, and there was nothing more tiring, more heartbreaking, more exhausting than rescue and recovery. Seeing mangled bodies of all sizes was something she had had to get used to, and to do that, her heart hardened a bit. Putting on a false sense of positivity and spoon feeding it to victims was a chore she did gladly in order to move from point A to point B. The truth was quickly thrown out if there was no use for it, and Krow's questions about it suddenly irked her more as Deku nodded and agreed with her that he ought to get some shut-eye.

Ochako watched as Deku attempted to clean up the work area, or at least get the files into some kind of organized mess. No one was in the office now, except for Ryukyu for yet another grueling overnight shift. Maybe she could tell him now, but her mouth stayed welded shut, the words in her heart never escaped. Deku said something to her, low and soft, but she missed it as he passed by her and headed toward the locker rooms to change back into Izuku. When the door closed behind him, it almost felt too poetic, and her chest burned as that axiom died in her throat again. What was its use, anyway?

Somewhere down the line, she stopped telling the truth all together, and even when she did, they were half-truths. She had to as Uravity, she surmised, to move forward as a hero and now it seemed like it had bled into her personal life...or was it the other way around? Putting up a front was something she had done since...well, since forever. Hiding her true feelings was something she always did. Whenever they threatened to get in the way of anything, they were relegated for a more convenient time that never promised to arrive. It all boiled down to a single fact she realized as Izuku emerged from the locker room Deku disappeared in, and he gave her a smile, thankful that she had waited for him so they could leave together. His eyes melted her, but she put up that trusty wall, and smiled back.

She wasn't brave enough for the truth.


	4. On Fire

It would be a few more days before Uravity saw Deku again. It was like he had never been there, and the only clues he had left behind were the case files from the police department and a text letting her know he was busy chasing smaller criminals uptown. She relished in the butterflies that fluttered in her chest upon seeing his name on her screen, but realizing it, scolded herself for being so pathetic. The other night when he was here she could have asked him to dinner, could have made herself an opportunity, but, instead, missed it again. It wasn't as if he were a slippery fish, she just refused to cast the line time and time again.

"Is it someone special?" came Krow's voice crashing into her thoughts in an inquisitive tone as he looked up from the piece of paper he was writing on.

Uravity ripped her eyes off the screen as she whipped her head to the side to address her raven-like intern in a full blush. They were sitting at one of the spare desks in the main atrium with forms, files, and lunch littered in front of them. The morning patrol had been quite eventful – a number of car accidents between commuters and a petty theft had provided Uravity with a number of simple jobs she could use to teach Asuka Dakuro, hero name: Krow, the Ryukyu office's newest intern. Now, Krow was sitting at the desk filling out his very own job form all by himself while Uravity supervised. She had to focus and remain his teacher, but he caught every damning thing she did.

"Nope! It's no one!" she squeaked.

"Oh. Do you smile like that at every text you get, then?"

Over the past week, Uravity had learned much about her intern's mannerisms, namely that he was straightforward, spoke his mind, and had no filter. If he had a question, a comment, or concern, she would hear it. In that way, he was a lot like Tsuyu, but he was also quick to become comfortable around her, enough to crack jokes, jab at her playfully, and get on a last-name basis. Although she welcomed the closeness, Uravity still had a hard time differentiating between the times he was being sarcastic, humorous, or serious. They seemed to all blend together, and right now, she couldn't tell if he was just being a little snot or not.

"Oh, um, hmm! Let me see your form! How did you do?" Uravity shot back, trying to play along, but also to get him off her back. At this rate, he'd figure it out.

Krow tore the paper from the table in a frenzy and held it as far away from her as possible. "No! I'm sorry, I'm not done yet!"

"That's what I thought," Uravity said with a smirk. "Do you need help?"

"Nope, I got this!"

"Okay, then!"

A few minutes passed. It was silent in the office this afternoon. Flashlight was out on patrol with the work-studies still, Ryukyu was MIA after back-to-back night shifts, and no one was scheduled to visit today. Nejire kept her role as head supervisor in Ryukyu's absence, and sat at her desk rummaging over older files, the computer, and answering the phone. It was a slow, run-of-the-mill day, it seemed.

Uravity noticed Nejire get up from the desk and walk over to where she and Krow were sitting.

"You mind holding down the fort?" Nejire asked, her hands behind her back.

"Sure, where are you going?" Uravity answered.

"I'm taking your patrol. Deku will be returning later today and I want you two to become acquainted with the case," Nejire explained, pointing at her and Krow. "He worked on it non-stop on Monday, so I'm sure he has something to report. Plus, I think it might just be healthier for him to talk to other people."

Uravity giggled. So, she had been right – he really had muttered all day like she said he would. "I bet you also could use the air, too."

"Oh, yeah!" Nejire agreed, nodding furiously. "I didn't become a hero so that I could sit behind a desk and play secretary. I'll see you guys later!"

With that, Nejire grabbed a radio and stuffed it into her own fanny pack before disappearing behind the wall that separated the main lobby from the main atrium. Uravity heard the thick glass doors close behind her elder. She couldn't help but be a little excited to work more closely with Deku, and it showed.

"So, it was Deku," Krow teased.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you all done with that form already?" Uravity asked sarcastically as she slipped the paper out from under her student and studied it.

Krow froze.

"This is awfully incomplete. I'm disappointed."

He whined in protest, "I wasn't done! I'm sorry!"

"Your sorrys mean nothing to me, Dakuro-kun."

It wasn't until just after two-thirty in the afternoon that Deku came through the front door. Thank goodness, because Uravity was running out of tedious things to have her intern do, and he was slouched over in the chair he had brought to Ryukyu's desk, waiting to be taught all about the telephone. Deku passed them as he walked into the atrium. His boots were dirty, and the fabric of his hero costume was dark with sweat around his neck and under his arms. Likewise, his normally fluffy hair was stuck to his forehead and the back of his neck. The oven was still turned up high outside, it seemed.

"Oh," escaped his throat as he realized Uravity and Krow were the only ones in the office, and they were sitting where he probably expected Nejire.

"Catch the bad guys?" Uravity asked, summoning Ochako's bubbly tone, welcoming him back.

Deku gave her a weak smile. He was so humble about his hero work. "We did."

"Also looks like it's still hot as hell out there, my guy," Krow commented, sitting up straight.

"Yeah, it is," Deku said as he removed his face mask from around his neck and unzipped his costume down to his chest, enough to let the air conditioning in. He followed the curve of his neck to peel the fabric from his skin. "I'm glad I left a spare costume here, because I need to get out of this right now."

Uravity did not let the idea of Deku undressing distract her into becoming Ochako right now. "Sounds good. We'll wait for you in my cubicle! Nejire wants us to talk about the case with you."

"Definitely! I'll be out in a minute!" he said and disappeared into the locker room.

Uravity got up from her seat behind the main desk and grabbed the wireless receiver from the phone dock. She then led Krow to her cubicle at the back of the main atrium, beyond the small sea of work-study desks. All of Deku's files were still stacked up in exactly the same way he had left them Monday – Uravity had avoided disturbing the arrangement all week.

Her cubicle was somewhat bare, but she had made it her home away from home over the two years she occupied it. Besides the office computer, her rolling computer chair, and two conference chairs, Uravity had purchased a few things to personalize the space, namely random office supplies in her favorite hue of pink. A calendar featuring puppies, ducklings, and other cute animals hung on the far wall so she could always reference it, right next to her UA diploma, and a small, glass bowl of candy sat right next to the keyboard of her desktop. What really made this space her own, however, were the few framed pictures she had hung up – one of her parents, one of her and Tsuyu, and an old shot of her, Iida, and Izuku still in high school. All three were even still in their UA uniforms. Of course, it was that latter picture that caught Krow's eye.

"You weren't kidding when you said you guys were close friends," he commented, looking at the picture intently. "It's kind of sweet, ya know? You get to work together on a big case, get to catch up...that's really nice, isn't it?"

The nuance of knowing sarcasm that laced each word out of his mouth didn't escape her. Five days, and already the kid was so learned in the ways of Ochako Uraraka.

"Yup," was all she could and would say. Content, Krow moved on.

"Hey, isn't that the new Ingenium? And that's Froppy, too, isn't it?" he said, becoming more excited.

"I told you we had all been in the same class."

"Yeah, but it's just so cool that you are all such good friends, also."

"You don't have any friends in your class?" she was half-joking, expecting him to become bashful and admit that what he said didn't make sense, but he shook his head instead.

"Uh, well...it's more like having nineteen separate rivalries," he said a-matter-of-factually. He didn't seem to be bothered by it as he shrugged. "I don't expect to still hang out and see any of them after we graduate...you know, _on purpose_. I'm better friends with you than I am with any of them, believe it or not."

Uravity found this peculiar, but took it as an opportunity to get back at him for his teasing before. "Maybe they don't understand your humor."

Krow guffawed as he sat in one of the conference chairs. "Yeah, ha, yeah, I wish that was the reason."

He tapped his nose and Uravity immediately knew - it was his quirk they didn't appreciate. She sat in the other chair next to him with a worried look. Yes, his quirk was macabre but how could fellow heroes not see the use in it? It had only been a week, and already Uravity felt as though her call rate had jumped at least by half with Krow being able to sniff out a call before it even came in over the radio. His nose was so sensitive he had even been able to pinpoint exactly where an unconscious child had been hiding in a house fire that week, and she had survived because of it. Krow just shrugged. He clearly didn't need anyone's approval, and although he was still less inclined to introduce the quirk to anyone, he wasn't shy about using it.

Before she could say anything else, Deku came through the opening to the cubicle, in a fresh hero suit, ready to go over the files. Both Krow and Uravity smiled in greeting, itching to hear about the case.

"Okay, so, here's where I'm at right now," Deku began, taking a seat in Uravity's rolling computer chair. "Our suspect appears to be an older gentleman who began his terrorist attacks in America. Looking at the first crime in the series, he began his path of destruction much earlier than I originally thought...about fifty years ago."

"Fifty years?" Uravity exclaimed.

"What, was the guy one of the first people to have a quirk?" Krow commented sarcastically.

"I think quirks have been around way longer that that," Deku said. "But, it was strange...at first I didn't know why this first case was included."

"Why is that?" Uravity asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Because, it's very unlike all of the other crimes we can easily connect to this guy," Deku continued. Uravity could see that he was trying hard not to mutter as he explained this to them. "Well, what makes his operation so obvious is how big it is. He is able to bring down huge, multi-story buildings, but in this case, he didn't do that."

Both Krow and Uravity exchanged glances.

"This first one took place in a tiny, remote town and instead of destroying the buildings, just the people inside were found dead many months after the crime occurred."

"So...how did you connect that with our demolition guy?" Krow asked, his interest piqued. He leaned forward in his chair as if he were watching a good episode of true crime TV.

"All of the bodies were charred to the point of being unrecognizable," Deku answered grimly.

"Just like...the building we had in June. And the one in May," Uravity murmured.

Deku nodded. "Those are the ones that helped me to connect the dots, because honestly, he has changed his methods throughout the years, and it's clear to me it's based on his power level."

"How can you even guess that?" Krow was shocked and intrigued, impressed with Deku's deductive skills but still willing to challenge his elder.

"I hate to compare myself to him, but I've gone through the same kind of power increases over the years with my own training," Deku explained, giving Krow a weak smile.

That was right...Deku's progress had always seemed like he was climbing a ladder, Uravity thought, and he'd dazzle the whole class whenever he overcame another rung. More control, more power, more abilities...it was naive to think he was the only one who could grow like that. Did that mean this villain trained himself so that he could murder more people in the same way Deku trained to save more people? Uravity shuddered at the thought. She knew people like that existed, but what did he gain from darkening his soul like that?

Deku stood up and began to dismantle the stack of folders on the desk, laying out a timeline of attacks so that Uravity and Krow could follow his line of thinking. He then explained it all, holding his chin, as if he were saying this out loud for the first time and hoping it made as much sense out in the open to other human beings as it did in his head. The first crime was a single newspaper article Deku laid on the desk, stained deep yellow with age. [ENTIRE TOWN CHARRED] read the headline, in English, and a spooky black and white picture of a lonely house in the snow, wrapped in ribbons of police tape, accompanied it.

"He seems to be able to do more every time he strikes, which makes me think he's training the quirk between attacks. For instance, after his first massacre, he didn't commit another crime for five whole years."

Deku laid out the next article, the headline just as ghastly. "Then, he attacked another small town, in Alaska, and this time destroyed all of the houses. They were all burnt to the ground, and the occupants were only burned as an effect of being trapped. He then went silent for another seven years."

Deku laid out another article. "Then he reappeared in California where he began to bring down bigger buildings. The first few times he did this, lots of the people survived, and it seems like his goal is to murder everyone in the building rather than just be destructive. When he reappeared some years later, he started charring the first floor worth of apartments." Another article was laid out.

"Then the next floor and then the next floor." Another article and another.

"He would target taller and taller buildings, doing it more and more often, based around how many floors worth of people he could char before bringing it down." The timeline ended with an entire folder of recent jobs.

Krow's eyes widened and Uravity gulped, but they did this for different reasons. "Guy...you went through all these case files in the five hours Uravity and I were walkin' earlier this week?!"

Uravity gave him an exasperated side glance and Deku became flustered and put his hands up. "N-no, I'm trying to bring you guys up to speed. A lot of this timeline was put together by lots of American detectives as the crimes were committed. They were fairly certain the crimes were all committed by the same person, but his pattern is random, his motive is a mystery, no one's ever seen him, and without truly understanding his quirk, he's hard to confront or catch. My main job here is to unravel that last part."

"Oh! You were always so good at that," Uravity commented, flashing Deku a smile, causing him to go even more flush.

Uravity couldn't see Krow, but heard him let out an amused sigh before speaking. "So...how many stories is he able to cook?"

"At this point, it seems like he can char seven stories worth of apartments, leaving the upper floors to perish in the inevitable collapse. I'm guessing his fire is hot enough to weaken support beams. From some of these files, he appears to understand where such beams would be and can focus on taking them out."

Uravity thought for a moment. "But...I thought there were bombs? Is his quirk explosive like Bakugo's or is it like the Todoroki Hellfire?"

"It appears to be both right now, but something really sticks out about the M.O. that has to be important to how it works. Every crime he's committed has happened in the summer, between the end of May and the beginning of September...and they have all happened around noon or after and only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays."

"So, he's got a day job!" came Krow's conclusion with a smirk, and he pointed a finger gun at Deku.

Uravity shook her head while Deku stood silent.

"Krow...no..." was Uravity's plea, but Krow felt he was on to something.

"Yeah! Why else only attack on the weekends? Guy is busy during the week!" Uravity couldn't tell if her student was serious or if it was his dark humor coming out in defense of the grim story they had just been told. She figured it the latter.

"I love where your head is at, but I'm pretty sure it has more to do with the fact that those times are the hottest parts of the day, and the weekends are when more people will be home...in their apartments," Deku said shakily.

"Or shopping at the store fronts..." Uravity added.

"Yeah, he seems to have really perfected his technique," Deku said, his eyes falling on the mess of files on the desk. "From all of this information, I've been able to really make some headway figuring out his quirk. It appears to have everything to do with ambient temperature. The only one that didn't happen in the summer was the first one. That one happened in winter, but, that appears to have been a beginner's choice to ensure he'd get away with it, given the remoteness of the town, but..."

Deku trailed and Uravity could see the gears turning in his head as the hand he held up to his chin reached his lips and his brow furrowed in extreme concentration. He was gone from the room, inverted into another plane of existence that was his own mind. Uravity waited a second before feeling the urge to prompt him, that urge coming from her student's confused staring. Unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough and Krow spoke.

"D-Deku, dude, you can't just stop in the middle of the story right when you get to the good parts." He threw his hands up as if someone's cell phone had rung in the movie theatre.

Uravity gave an annoyed sigh, but luckily Deku was too sweet, and perhaps too distracted, to take anything else but a grain of salt from Krow's crassness about the situation. Nevertheless, Deku returned and replied, "Sorry. I was just thinking that winter in Alaska is an endless night."

Both Uravity and Krow sat in silence waiting for the revelation. Deku stood thinking again, but one hand reached into one of his red utility belt compartments, and emerged with a small, pocket-sized notebook with a pen. He flipped open the notebook to a page that already harbored his scribbles, and wrote as he spoke aloud, albeit, in a mutter. "So, his quirk doesn't need sunlight, per say, just a heat source, although he probably prefers ambient heat...it's readily available..."

"So...he can suck out the heat from things? Or move the heat?" Uravity tried. "Like, from a stove?"

"Or a human body," Krow added darkly. Uravity stared at him.

"That's so morbid, Krow!"

"What? What? That's something to consider!"

"It really is," Deku murmured, and his consideration made them turn back to him. "I wonder how he could weaponize one hundred degrees, though? That's not nearly enough to ignite wood, let alone melt steel...or char the person..."

"Perhaps he can amplify it?" Uravity suggested.

"Maybe. This is assuming he can even do that...there aren't many quirks out there that can target living things outside of the user...

"He'd be pretty unique..."

"Yeah, and can we assume he is able to move one hundred percent of the heat he steals, if we're going to accept this theory? I just don't know..."

As Uravity discussed the specs of the villain's quirk, she noticed Krow sit up straight in his chair, his face becoming stern. She knew that look. It had only been five days, but she already recognized what it looked like when Krow's quirk activated.

"Guys...people are dying," he murmured. "A lot. All at once..."

He sat, frozen to his chair, a pang of fear visibly moving through him as he sniffed the air lightly, turning his face up. Uravity traced his gaze past Deku and up the back wall where she could see an air conditioning vent. That's where the outside air was coming in and no doubt carrying the scent of death for Krow's keen nose to notice. Deku, meanwhile, grabbed his radio and considered it. No call had come over yet for the emergency Krow was sensing, but nevertheless, he followed Uravity's lead as she shoved her own radio into her fanny pack and donned her helmet.

As the three young heroes made headway towards the door, the familiar booms began in the distance...ONE...TWO...THREE! Uravity felt her stomach rise anxiously, the dread overcoming her as they crashed through the front doors of the office and bolted down the street. People were already running in the opposite direction, screaming, and car alarms wailed. Another three explosions sounded.

Although she had never heard the explosions before, the way witnesses cried and shook as they recounted their experiences hearing them brought all her fear to the forefront. This was their guy. The one they had just been discussing had been just a block away. She could hear Deku's voice, stern, unwavering, but tense, as he reported the incoming rescue operation with possible suspect on scene, but her mind was too focused on _just getting there_ to make out the details.

Krow disappeared into the air, flying ahead to the end of the block. Uravity wasn't sure, in that moment, if Krow, as an intern, should have been allowed to leave the office building. She remembered that it had taken a lot of convincing to get Ryukyu on board with allowing her and Tsuyu to partake in a high-stakes raid when they were interning all those years ago. This surely would be on par, but she wasn't given a lot of time to mull it over or the opportunity to call her bird-like student back. He hovered at the end of the street, his wings flapping heavily as people ran past underneath him.

Once Uravity and Deku made it onto the main avenue, they stopped and stared in horror. A twelve-story apartment building sitting perfectly at the center of the intersection looked as if it had been licked a hundred times by a giant flamethrower, black scars marring the once beautiful sand stone exterior of this building and its immediate neighbors. The fire was already roaring inside what was once the grocery store front like an angry monster and it stretched into the next seven stories of apartments, each window framing the flickering flames inside. Another loud boom rocked the pavement, blowing out more glass onto the street below, stopping the three young heroes from proceeding.

A loud crunch reverberated through the hot summer air as the building gave way, collapsing each fiery floor flat, the heavy intact top floors aiding the vertical descent. Debris rained down on the cars and sidewalk as the building released a cloudy mixture of thick black smoke and sandy dust that raced towards them like floodwaters.

Krow ducked back down the street they had come from to avoid getting hit by flying debris, and Uravity followed, the two of them stopping at the office doors. When she turned around, she saw Deku had stayed poised in the intersection, spreading his legs to brace and extending his arms in front of him, one ready with his middle finger tensely tucked against his thumb and the other to brace it. The stripes of lava snaked across his body before dissipating into the familiar bright green electricity Uravity had come to recognize as his quirk powering up. Her breath still became hitched in her throat, though. She wanted to trust Deku knew what he was doing – the block was more long than it was wide and surely he suspected the rest of the building would fall forward and crush him. _Was he planning on catching the building?_ She knew he was strong...insanely powerful, actually, but to catch five stories of brick, stone, and mortar...she had to doubt that particular skill was in his repertoire.

As the wave of dust washed over them, Uravity shut her eyes and heard...no... _felt_ the top five floors of the building slam onto the pavement and groan as it waned forward, falling like a tree that had been expertly cut. She cracked one eye open to witness Deku, in the thick mist, flick his finger at the oncoming building, sending a jet of air so powerful it stopped the building's descent for a split second, enough for him to pump energy into his legs and bounce out of the way. The rest of the building came crashing down, slamming into the asphalt, sending bits of debris, glass, and brick flying into the surrounding buildings. Despite the hard landing, the top half of the building stayed mostly together.

That's what he was trying to do, Uravity surmised. He was trying to save as much of the building as possible by cushioning its landing. Now there might be survivors!

Krow's cough jolted Uravity from her thoughts and she turned to tend to her student. He was holding his face, trying to shield from the dust as it settled. Uravity patted Krow on the back.

"C'mon, let's start rescue," she said with some energy. To think that there might be some survivors they could pull out of this...maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time, they would find someone and that person would survive, just to stick it to the awful villain who caused this. Deep down, Uravity knew it would be some time before other heroes showed up. After all, these collapses never produced survivors, so surely they would be preoccupied with the injured that had been able to run away. It was up to the three of them to start the effort, it seemed.

As Uravity and Krow approached the fallen building, she could hear the sirens already. It was incredibly quiet, as if the collapse had sucked all of the sound out from the surrounding area, and now the wailing from far off ambulances could be heard. As they approached ever closer, it was clear the building had created a new structure. Where there had been an intersection was now a dead-end. The apartments completely blocked off the streets – anyone who had survived would need to be pulled out either from the broken windows or from the underside where the seventh floor had attached to the eighth. Deku was standing there, waiting for them to return.

"I'll scout from above," Krow offered when they reunited with Deku. He spread his black wings and launched himself into the air, still holding his hand over his nose and mouth. Through the dust, Uravity watched as her student hovered, surveying the damage and then shooting them a thumbs-up that it was relatively safe for them to jump over. Uravity hugged herself, becoming weightless and gently skipped over the wall. Deku did just about the same thing as he pumped power into his legs and scaled the broken wall with a single leap.

As Krow landed between them on the other side, Uravity looked around. The dust still hadn't quite settled, but she could see that the building had also blocked off the other intersection where the building once stood, creating a sort of square colosseum with the surrounding buildings. Additional edifices, store fronts, and apartments had been damaged in the landing as well, some with their entire faces scraped off to reveal the rooms within.

"The hell?" came Krow's voice in the dust cloud. His voice was muffled as he continued to hold his nose and mouth.

"The dust has nearly settled, you can-" Uravity started but Krow cut her off.

He shook his head, his eyes clamped shut, "No. Nope. I don't feel so great...all the death...it's making me want to puke."

"His quirk is getting overwhelmed," Deku commented empathetically to Uravity, who could only watch as her student struggle.

"You can go back to the offices and wait for me there," Uravity offered, but Krow violently shook his head again.

"No, you guys...I don't know how to explain this but the smell...it's...getting closer," Krow choked out, squinting in Uravity's direction. "I have no idea how that's even possible, but it...is..."

He trailed off as he stared past Uravity, his eyes becoming like saucers. Confused, she turned to Deku, who also looked as if he were seeing ghosts behind her. Cautiously, she turned around, gulping. Could it really be that awful? Yes.

From the burned debris behind her, blackened bodies began to emerge, moaning. They became upright and started to walk towards them in a slow, stiff shamble. Uravity couldn't believe her eyes and clearly, neither could her two partners. The corpses were completely black, scorched and burned to death by their main suspect before the building collapse, with no real features to speak of besides their lip-less mouths revealing just their teeth. Some of the bodies fell as they walked, their legs too charred to hold them up. When walking didn't work, they crawled, leaving flakes of burnt black skin in their wake.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Krow shouted as he whipped around to view more bodies oozing out of the cracks of the rest of the building behind him and Deku. Bloodied and mangled, these corpses, too, descended upon their location. In under a minute, the trio was surrounded.

"Oy!" cried a voice from above as a black shadow swooped in from above. "Necro, you might want to hurry on the play time, we got frickin' heroes here already."

As he landed, his quirk was clear – brown bat wings and matching, long ears, big, black eyes, and a curled up face just like that of a bat. When he smirked at the trio, long needle-like teeth emerged from the dried out lips.

"But, but!" cried another voice somewhere. "My friends!"

"Make more friends. These aren't dead yet," the bat growled and then disappeared back into the sky.

At that notion, the corpses shambled closer, faster, until they were upon the young heroes like flies on the dead. It was time to fight, time to stop considering that these zombies were once helpless civilians. Uravity immediately switched to survival mode, grappling and dispatching the burned corpses that fell towards her with mouths open, ready to use their only weapons – their teeth.

Uravity glanced over to her partners in maternal worry. Krow summoned gusts of wind to keep the bodies at bay, still clutching his face in a desperate attempt to control the putrid stench from invading his nostrils. Uravity wasn't sure how much of his desperation was about his quirk anymore as the stink of burnt flesh threatened to make her sick as well. All the while, Deku was employing the same tactic as Krow, flicking bursts of air at the bodies to keep them away. Two large corpses bounded towards him, gurgling, and he easily dispatched them by summoning his black whips, wrapping them, and tossing them back into the building. Unfortunately, even as pieces, the deceased still tried to fight. Arms and legs came crawling back like inch worms to take him down.

It was then Uravity felt something clamp onto her boot, and then her other one. Her automatic response was to quickly turn around and dislodge herself from what she was sure was the grasp of a corpse, but they were just arms she had dealt with earlier. Uravity let out a surprised squeal as she was met with a complete body that came hurtling towards her suddenly, knocking her to the ground. With all her strength she held the body at bay as its teeth snapped at her. It seemed to know her helmet visor was protecting her face, so it tried to bite at her shoulders and chest instead. Uravity grimaced, the blackened skin de-gloving in her grasp to reveal the well done meat underneath. She needed to get out of this quickly before her arms went numb and the clapping jaws met her skin.

Just then the body was pulled off of her and thrown back across the cement ravine into the wall of smoldering debris from whence it came. Uravity breathed a sigh of relief as she stared up at Deku, who was also running out of breath. He offered her his hand.

"You're not out yet," he breathed and she nodded, getting up off the ground.

The mysterious voice from before screeched as its owner emerged from one of the damaged store fronts that had been stripped in the collapse. He was a tiny man with disheveled black hair and a small black mustache upon his lip. He wore dark clothing and the circles under his eyes put the ones under Aizawa's to shame. This was the one the bat had referred to as "Necro" and he certainly looked as though he had a screw loose and his patience was being tried. " _I want! Your! Bodies!_ "

The electricity of Deku's power fired up, causing the hairs at the back of Uravity's neck to stand up straight, before he launched himself towards Necro. Unfortunately, the bat wasn't about to let the party die, and he intercepted Deku, crushing the green hero into the pavement with a slap of his wing. Necro used this as an opportunity to run towards the scorched legions still emerging from the debris. Deku wasn't done, however, and launched his foot towards the bat as he balanced on his hands. The bat swooped up, causing Deku to miss and instead slam into the bricks, his iron sole boot cracking the wall.

"Kickin' to kill, eh? The doesn't seem so heroic, hero," the bat chided as he flapped away. He then addressed Necro, who cowered near the next wall. "Hey, why don't you get the big boy out? These assholes aren't going down easy!"

Necro nodded. At that moment, the bodies turned their attention towards Necro and began to shamble their way to him, as if in a trance. Uravity used this as an opportunity to regroup with Krow and Deku joined them on the opposite side of the crater. They watched helplessly in horror as Necro brought the moaning bodies and pieces together, first into a writhing, bleeding ball around him, then covered it with the charred bodies like a black skin. The corpses molded themselves to look like a torso and finally came together as limbs to lift the new giant up. One burnt corpse lay at the helm, acting as the new horror's head, and screeched together with the thirty or so other dead in a cacophonous roar.

"Okay, that's worse...so much worse," Krow complained into his hands. He shut his eyes again, and, unable to stand the stench any longer, dropped to his knees. Uravity felt the sting of fear run down her spine as she worriedly looked to Deku, who also seemed nervous. The giant stood at least twice any of their heights.

The bat giggled somewhere in the dusty mist as the horror bellowed again. "You shitheads better die quickly or you're not going to have a good time."

"We have to break it apart and knock out the quirk-user inside," Deku grit his teeth. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. It was clear the horror was well-built as it stomped towards them, rattling loose debris near each bloody footprint. "But...it's way too dangerous to get close to it..."

Shaking her head, Uravity willed herself to focus. To think like Deku, one had to ask questions. How does this quirk work? What are its limitations? To her left, she eyed a huge chunk of brick and cement as an idea formed – how does the zombie see without any eyes? She slammed her hands on the giant piece of debris making it float and then tossed it at the horror, releasing her anti-gravity just as it got close. Physics had never been her strongest subject in school, but adding some velocity to a heavy object to deliver a heavier punch was easily proven in practice.

"2 o'clock!" they heard the bat shout from somewhere, and the horror swung its arm to intercept the attack, breaking the artificial boulder into instant rubble. It howled again in anger.

Deku turned to Uravity with the biggest smile, chasing the fear from her chest and replacing it with confidence and butterflies. "Great work!" he called. "So...the bat is acting as its senses...let's test it some more, shall we?"

Uravity matched Deku's mettle and began hurling more debris at the monster as Deku kicked up a flurry of smaller pebbles with his air blasts. As expected, the bat responded first.

"Big pieces from 2 o'clock, little shit from 11."

The monster responded in kind, lifting its fat, right arm of bodies to block Uravity's debris shots and trying to swat aimlessly at Deku's smaller bullets. The pebbles hit the horror, scraping charred skin from its shoulders, revealing dark red meat underneath.

"They're right in front of you!" the bat called again, and this time, the trio had to be on the defensive. The monster held up its big meaty arm and then charged, bellowing the cacophony of dead voices as it did. The three scattered, Uravity and Deku jumping to either side, Krow rocketing up into the air. The horror didn't stop, though, and crashed into the brick wall that was behind them, shaking the bricks and loosening debris that fell on top of it. Uravity, Deku, and Krow came together in the spot the monster had been standing moments before, keeping their eyes on it.

"6 o'clock."

The command had the monster whipping around and charging them again. The hero trio bounced out of the way once more as the giant slammed into the smoldering pile of building remains. Uravity bit her lip as she ran towards a wall still erected and attached to the collapsed apartments. This wasn't going anywhere, she thought grimly. As long as the bat could trace them unabated, they wouldn't be able to break the amalgamation of human remains apart and get to the necromancer inside.

She disappeared behind the wall and leaned up against the linoleum of what was once someone's kitchen floor. She breathed heavily, becoming exhausted from a terrible combination of quirk overuse, physical exertion, and terror. Krow joined her side in this relatively safe enclosure, also out of breath from flying. Not a moment later, Deku appeared, his eyes wide in terror as he grabbed Uravity's arm and Krow's collar, pulling them down to the ground just as the giant bashed its body against the wall. It banged its arms on the ceiling over and over until it caved in, leaving the trio squished in a tiny triangle of space between the two walls.

"Not there? Where did those assholes go? Could have sworn..." they could hear the bat say.

Deku peeked past the wall, his breathing still heavy.

Uravity whispered in the quietest breath she could muster, "What's the plan?"

Deku mouthed back to her, shaking his head, "I don't know."

She could tell he was thinking hard as his eyes scanned their surroundings and their predicament. She looked to Krow and took a moment to be thankful all three of them were, for the most part, unscathed. Unfortunately, her student was still suffering, his eyelids heavy, sweating profusely, and his nose had begun to bleed as he coped with the unrelenting over-stimulation of his quirk. Movement from her other side caused her to face Deku again, empathy clear on his face as he removed his metal face mask from his suit. He then climbed over Uravity and shoved it onto Krow's face, instantly relieving the younger hero of his pain. Krow began to breath easy and shot him a thumb's up. Uravity watched as Deku settled back into his spot to think, his eyes sinking to the floor beneath them, his hand curling under his chin.

An idea seemed to strike him, suddenly, and his eyes then met hers, intense and unwavering, and she felt the gist of the plan before he relayed it. She intimately knew how he worked, the types of plans he came up with, the information he craved to come to such conclusions. It shouldn't have shocked her so much that the strong friendship they had forged in high school hadn't rusted any in the two years they struggled to keep contact, but it did. The excitement of it made her heart flutter. She had missed this fluid collaboration she shared with him, the invasion of his infectious confidence, the feeling of closeness she didn't experience with anyone else. When he looked at her like that, she knew exactly what to do, and if Krow hadn't been there, he would not have needed to say anything at all.

"We can break the zombie" Deku waved a finger between himself and Uravity, "but we need to get rid of the bat, first." He was almost inaudible, but the plan was relayed to Krow enough to make the younger hero think.

"I got him," Krow offered silently after a moment and Uravity grabbed his arm. Her stare was intense – she couldn't just let her intern fight a villain all on his own. Krow seemed to understand this, but he gently removed her hand. "Don't worry, Mom, I got this."

He then scuttled out of the tight space and took flight. It wasn't a moment later they heard the bat screech as Krow engaged him in an aerial battle, one that would shift his focus away from guiding the monster, leaving it blind. With the bat preoccupied, it was time to bring down the giant horror that stood before them. Uravity met eyes with Deku, his dauntless smile infusing a state of courageousness in her that she hadn't felt since...well, since last time they fought together. Their classmates had learned quickly that Ochako and Izuku were a force to be reckoned with and soon this giant monster would learn it, too.

She grabbed his shoulder and made him weightless.

"They're going to attack you!" the bat shouted as he struggled with Krow.

"Hey, ugly, worry about yourself!" Krow shouted as he chased the villain through the air.

The bat's shout seemed to stun the beast and it swung haphazardly in all directions, but it would be no use. Deku powered up his quirk and lept for the monster. Uravity ran parallel to him, releasing her quirk at just the right moment like she had with the first boulder she had thrown. Deku's iron-covered foot hit the giant so hard it created a crater in its side, charred skin flaked off and blood oozed from the hole. Deku then bounced away as the zombie swung its arms, the bodies there wailing.

Uravity intercepted Deku, touching his shoulder again to steal his mass, and repeating the attack over and over again, perfectly synchronized to deliver an onslaught the monster could not keep up with. Deku hit the monster in its arm once...twice...three times before the limb fell off, battered and broken in a bloody mess. Each time Uravity ran across the battlefield to meet Deku and offer her quirk, only to release it at the precise moment he would make contact. It was like a gruesome waltz they danced to bring down the moaning, crying atrocity. Now she was fearless. Now they were getting somewhere. The exhaustion, though, was catching up to her, and Uravity willed the burning in her legs away in order to meet Deku wherever he needed her.

His quirk was incredible. From a distance, it looked like he wasn't even feeling it, wasn't getting tired, wasn't disgusted by the monstrosity he was fighting. After the second arm came down, and Uravity met with Deku to provide quasi-flight again, she realized how wrong that was. He was soaking wet from sweat and his chest heaved each tired breath. It seemed crazy to her, but he looked like he was enjoying it, still. The fact that they were succeeding was enough for him to continue, despite how his body shook under her fingertips as she extended her quirk to him yet again.

And so, they continued. Each smash seemed to make the monster more and more anxious as it spun around, trying to figure out from what direction Deku would hit it from next. It was all in vain, though, as Deku continued to kick holes in the monster's abdomen, scrap burned flesh away, and dismantle the beast. It truly had no outward senses, and only responded to being hit, stomping at the ground where it wrongly guessed Deku still was. It was still a dangerous game Deku was playing, and eventually, the monster guessed right.

As Deku came in from behind, the monster turned around in a manic rage, stomping its feet. It was too late to stop the incoming attack, and the monster's foot, essentially a few crushed bodies, swiped at Deku, knocking him back. Uravity quickly released her quirk, leaving Deku on his back, reeling from the kick to his stomach. The giant zombie seemed to know it had hit something, guessed that its attacker was still somewhere in front of it, and started to charge. Without a moment's hesitation, Uravity jumped into action.

She had absolutely no idea where this burst of energy had come from, but the visual cue that Deku was in serious mortal danger was all it took to spring her forward like a slingshot. She reached him before the monster did, made him weightless by clutching his arm with all five fingers, and yanked him out of the way. The monster came barreling through the area not a moment later, crashing down each footfall with the intent to squash Deku like a bug, leaving mini craters in its wake. A section of the asphalt suddenly caved in under the monster's heavy foot, and tripped it so violently, it smacked the ground with a bone-crunching crash. A number of burned bodies fell off the back of the creature, and it screamed with thirty dead voices in frustrated agony.

Deku took this opportunity to part from Uravity and jump up onto the monster's back. Uravity released her anti-gravity, and Deku got to work excavating Necro from the monster. The giant zombie kicked and wailed, but with no arms, it struggled to get up. Deku ripped and tore into the monster's back like a savage animal, bits and pieces of flesh flying everywhere, blood splattering onto his wet hero costume. It was clear then, to Uravity, that Deku had just about enough of this fight and was desperate to end it.

He had torn a giant hole into the back of the monster, reached in and pulled Necro out from the monster's core. The tiny man was covered in blood from head to toe, and he hissed at Deku's angry visage.

"Bastard!" Necro cried. "He was beautiful! And you destroyed him! Destroyed him! Destroyed! Him!"

Deku said nothing as he retrieved handcuffs from one of his utility belt pockets, and forcefully attached them to Necro's wrists. Ochako could see the hurt in Izuku's eyes...what he had just done was inconceivable. Tearing through dead bodies to apprehend the criminal was something she knew would stick with him for some time. Hell, it was going to stick with her for a long time, too. Never in her life could she imagine the sweet, amiable Izuku needing to make killing strikes and desecrating the dead, but here he had done just that.

At that moment, Krow came down with the bat under his foot. He slammed the other villain hard into the broken battlefield, knocking him out.

"Nevermore, bitch," Krow yelled, and then chuckled to himself.

Uravity fell backwards onto her behind, the adrenaline wearing off to reveal the intense soreness in her legs. She shook her head at Krow. He sure was awful today, and wondered if his dark humor had a limit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Deku smirk for a split second at the slightly inaccurate reference, so perhaps there was some use to it after all.

Soon enough, other heroes showed up, removing wreckage, beginning recovery efforts, and rescuing survivors. As it turned out, to the trio's surprise, there had been survivors trapped in the stairwell, and as the building fell, the hard concrete of that inner wall, as well as Deku's ploy to soften the building's landing, had saved them. They were still in critical condition, and as they were loaded into the backs of ambulances on stand-by, Uravity looked to Krow to check if it was okay to have some hope. He nodded. Finally, there was some good news today.

From behind, Nejire and Ryukyu joined the trio.

"Thank goodness you are all okay," Ryukyu said, her worry unprecedented. When they finally convinced her they were okay, her demeanor changed to relief and business. "Okay. Give me the quick and dirty report. What's the total damages?"

The dragon heroine was using this as a teaching tool as she zeroed in on Krow. Uravity kept her mouth shut and allowed Krow the floor, who smirked and answered, "Downed twelve-story, many casualties, and about thirty dead twice."

He was dead serious. Uravity's head fell into her palm and she shook her head. She gave up trying to reel in Krow's crass commentary on the dead, but Ryukyu took it in stride. Somehow she understood her newest intern's need for humor in this crisis. Uravity thought a bit more as Krow tried to relay exactly what they had been up against, and it occurred to her that maybe he was beyond her when it came to accepting the laundry list of harsh truths. He had faced death his whole life no thanks to his quirk...maybe all he had to emerge from it sane was a little bit of laughter towards the darkness. Ryukyu seemed to get it, although her way of dealing with the darkness was rooted in compassion for the living and buttering up her staff when the abyss came calling, which she did now.

Despite Ryukyu's good graces, Uravity suddenly felt a pang of anxiety, a glaring lapse in her own judgment and authority she needed to address to her elder.

"Either way," she started, looking down at the pavement. "I shouldn't have allowed Krow to stay in combat. It was so dangerous and reckless...I messed up."

"I told you I could handle it. He was just a bat..." Krow tried to defend what had happened, but Uravity became even more upset.

"Even still! It was dangerous and it wasn't clear whether or not it was safe! When your quirk was getting overwhelmed, I should have immediately sent you back to the office, no questions asked!"

"And I would have said no! Who was going to get that bat bastard but me?"

"That's not the point!"

Ryukyu stared at the ensuing argument, her expression unchanged from the soft, understanding visage it had been.

Deku spoke up from behind Uravity, attempting to assuage the situation, more so for his friend's anxiety. "To be honest, we all went in thinking it would just be a rescue operation. By the time we realized what we were dealing with, it was too late. We needed that third person, otherwise, we really would have been at a greater disadvantage."

Ryukyu nodded, "It's so wonderful how you are evaluating yourself, Uraraka. You see areas for improvement, you're aware of your shortcomings and mistakes, and I really appreciate that. You know, the reason why I put Dakuro-kun under your care is because he's so gung-ho and will fight you about your decisions. You've clearly been able to work around it and use his ambitious personality to help take down villains."

"Yo, I'm standing right here," Krow mumbled.

"And not only that, but I think Krow has learned a little bit about his own limits through this, isn't that right, Dakuro-kun?" Ryukyu turned towards him knowingly, and the dark angel-like hero-in-training scratched the back of head bashfully, pink staining his cheeks.

"I...need a face mask if I'm going to tag along on recovery missions?" he tried. Then he jumped, remembering Deku's mask was still around his neck and returned the gear to its rightful owner.

Ryukyu snickered, then laughed, "Yes, something like that. See if you can get UA's support techs to fashion you one as soon as possible. In the meantime, why don't the three of you head back to the offices and take the rest of the day to rest? Flashlight should be here shortly after he's sent the work-studies home."

"That sounds good. Thank you, Ryukyu," Uravity said graciously, bowing to her. Ryukyu was all about positive reinforcement, and Uravity knew she'd never be able to count all the perks of being under the dragon lady's wing.

Ryukyu smiled and then turned to Deku, a thought crossing her mind.

"Deku, when do you think they will cross examine these two villains?" she asked.

Deku mulled the question around before answering. "Given the severity and the fact that we're trying to catch the villain responsible for the actual collapse, I'd say early tomorrow morning."

"Wonderful! Would it be okay if Krow and Uravity joined to watch the interrogation? For educational purposes?" Ryukyu asked.

Deku nodded. "Yeah, that would be fine. There will probably be a ton of personnel there to watch the interrogation."

"Great! Uravity, you're taking overtime to go to the interrogation and feel free to stay and work out the case more," Ryukyu ordered. "And Krow, as a student at UA, I can't make it mandatory that you arrive to work on a weekend, but I highly recommend that you join them."

Krow saluted. "Yes ma'am!"

Ochako could not will herself to walk the few blocks back to her apartment this way – smelly from sweat, blood, and only God knew what else - she needed to take a shower right now. Asuka Dakuro hadn't cared. He quickly changed into clean clothes, splashed some water on her face, and skipped out of the office, promising to lay into all of the gruesome details to whatever poor soul asked why he smelled so bad. She had done everything she could to convince him not to do that, and when he finally bid her goodbye, she still wasn't sure if he would keep the day's events to himself.

As Ochako turned on the shower and let the warm water wash over her filthy skin, she pondered Ryukyu's reasons for plopping such a brazen intern into her lap. Surely this one was a handful! He had started out so sweet, understanding, and willing to learn, but after their second or third run in with death that week, his true colors had emerged. He was still friendly, but everything was a joke, like he was constantly trying to remain sane in an insane world through the tenets of comedy. If that were the case, then Ochako couldn't blame him too much. She had seen the toll hero work had taken on Flashlight – every failed save weighed heavily on him, depressed him, and, she feared, convinced him to quit. On the flip side, she had become stalwart against death and the fragility of people. It didn't make the work any less grueling, and sometimes the missed saves weighed her down more than the successes lifted her up. In that sense, then maybe Krow had a reason to laugh. Maybe it was the best way to separate the dead body from who it used to be. Maybe Ryukyu gave her Krow so that she could learn to handle death in a new way...or maybe she assigned Asuka Dakuro to study under Ochako Uraraka precisely because he was a pain in the ass and she needed to learn to take charge. Whatever it was, she had to admit he made this test of her skills to become pro-partner that much more challenging.

Lost in thought, she rubbed the bar soap across her skin. It was no body scrub like she had at home, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make if it meant ridding herself of the zombie fluids. She jumped slightly upon hearing the door to the locker room open, and she found herself a bit confused and bare, despite the fact she had closed the shower curtain.

The locker room of the Ryukyu offices was a single, unisex area where everyone could store their belongings in personal lockers as well as change and shower in separated stalls. The bathrooms were thankfully still separate, the boys room to the right, the girls to the left. It even had a washer, dryer, and sink to clean hero gear. Ryukyu had withheld no expense to ensure a hero or sidekick could live here if standbys were necessary, and it was just another thing that helped Ochako feel so at home here.

The plop of a bag and more rustling jolted her from her thoughts again and she inquired into the space, "D-Dakuro-kun?"

"No, it's me," came Izuku's voice. Now she was really feeling bare. It wasn't as if she hadn't changed or showered with Flashlight in the next stall, or any other male work-study for that matter, but there was clearly something different about this arrangement. When the other shower head turned on, Ochako felt her cheeks heat up.

 _Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it!_

"I'm really glad this office has showers...sorry I couldn't wait, I couldn't go on the train covered in zombie...juices," Izuku said over the separator, as if he felt the need to explain himself.

 _Had he thought about it?_

Ochako giggled nervously, "Yeah, tell me about it!" She then winced as she realized what had escaped her mouth and her mind took it as an invitation to fill in the blanks.

A moment of silence crept by and Ochako felt the awkwardness build as the weight of knowing they were occupying the same space completely naked and wet grew heavier. She needed to escape these thoughts, at least for right now.

"Yeah, I couldn't even bring myself to walk home the few blocks," she added quickly. "It was..." she sighed, apparently see-sawing with the idea of discussing it, "a pretty gruesome fight."

Izuku hummed in agreement, his mind seemingly elsewhere at the reminder of the day's events. Scenes from the fight and the sheer terror raced through her mind. Real people, perhaps one hundred of them, perished today in a single attack. Men, women, and children had been roasted alive to the point of blackening and then reanimated to do the bidding of a psychotic madman. It was clear the bat and the necromancer weren't the ones that had set the blaze. No, that had to be their mystery villain. Had he been at the scene or had he escaped immediately before the building even came down? Why did these villains stay? Where did they come from?

Izuku was silent. She could hear him go about washing the sins he had had to commit today away, and the thought of it dug into her. Being a hero was so easy in the eyes of the public. Do good. Save people. But it really wasn't so simple at the end of the day, was it? People got hurt, people died, and villains didn't have to care who got hurt or who died in the crossfires of their desires and the means to get them. Heroes had to care, but in this instance, Deku didn't have a choice but to disregard them like a villain would. The necromancer had blanketed himself in the dead bodies of another villain's actions, and the only way to stop the fight and save their skins was to break those bodies again. There was no telling what story the police department would have to construe to defend Deku's actions, or maybe they would simply sweep them under the rug and fully blame the villains for it. Law enforcement wasn't pretty. Ochako knew no matter what happened, no matter what had to be done, Izuku was not okay with it.

The faucet squeaked as she shut the water off, the once hot water betraying her as the steam dissipated and the cold air sapped the heat away. She grabbed the towel she had hanging just outside her shower stall and began to dry herself. She felt terrible and angry. It wasn't fair or right. Such a wonderfully bright hero was forced to walk into the darkness today and he had been swallowed up by the impenetrable shadows there. She shook her head and willed those useless feelings away. Right now, she had someone to save.

She put on her street clothes and took a deep breath as his faucet squeaked and the water stopped. She was her own hero, but with the sudden reunion with Izuku, she felt a higher calling. He was so strong and capable of really anything, except being his own support. He was always like that, in constant need of grounding and reassurance, and if that's where he needed her, then she would be there. She could take that role.

"It's not your fault," she said into the echo of the locker room.

There was a pause. Somewhere in their past, the connection of their thoughts had become second nature. They could finish each other's sentences, come up with similar strategies, trust each other unconditionally, and it was the same now. Despite the awkward silence, he didn't need her to clarify what she meant.

"I know..." came his voice, a little shaky. She could hear him pulling on street clothes.

"You did what had to be done."

She didn't feel it necessary to elaborate that sometimes heroes had to step into the darkness to snuff it out. That heroes were expected to use force against villains, and this time was no different. He knew all these things already.

"It was horrible, what I had to do..."

"It was heroic."

Ochako had put herself directly in front of his shower stall so that when he pushed the curtain away, she'd be the first thing he saw. His hair was still pretty wet, and it added to his dejectedness. She put on her best bubbly smile as she looked into his glassy eyes, emanating positivity to counteract his mournfulness.

"We do what has to be done, no matter how awful, because we're heroes. We do it so they don't have to," she reminded him. "I don't know anyone else who does that as effortlessly without question, as you do, Deku."

She was sure her buttering game had become even stronger while under Ryukyu's wing, and it showed. His frown became a squiggle of bashful gratitude.

"Thanks Uraraka...you always know how to make me feel better," he murmured, his tiny grin becoming a sweeter smile that extended to his eyes, his cheeks stained pink.

Her heart was on fire.

"Anytime!" she squeaked, her cheeks becoming more rosy as well.

Ochako grabbed her gym bag and hero suit from her shower stall and moved over to the far wall where the washer was set up. "You...um...you can wash your suit here, too."

"Oh, that would be great!" Izuku said relieved, and snatched his own suit to drop into the machine. As he put it in, Ochako could see it was incredibly filthy. Blood, sweat, dust, dirt, charcoal...what wasn't absorbed into the fabric?

"So...what time should Krow and I be at the station tomorrow morning?" Ochako asked as the machine hummed on.

Izuku stared at her for a moment and then grimaced. "I almost forgot...I'm not going home, I still need to write up the report for this."

"Don't tell me you have more to do!" Ochako whined as Izuku nodded.

He began walking away, grabbed his gym bag from the shower stall, and stopped at the door as he answered. "Yeah, I have to do the write up, make notes about their quirks, they need to be checked in, booked, and the proper restraints need to be ordered. Then the detective needs to get called in...I'll probably end up sleeping at the station for a few hours before the interrogations."

Ochako sighed, feeling sorry for him. "Maybe...can I help you with any of that? I'm not doing anything tonight."

Izuku flashed her a smile. "Nah, go get some rest. I'd say come in about 8 AM tomorrow. That's usually when the detective will come in."

"All right," she said uneasily as they left the locker room. "I'll text Dakuro-kun about it. Just don't forget to eat something and actually get some sleep."

Izuku chuckled. "I'll be okay. Don't worry about me so much."

But how could she not?


	5. Blazing

"Ugh, this feels like a punishment," Krow whined as he and Uravity walked the few blocks to the police department.

They were fortunately walking in the opposite direction of yesterday's incident, and Uravity had done everything in her power not to look in its direction as they crossed the street. The debris from the twelve-story collapse still littered much of the intersection despite the round the clock work to remove it. They might not have even found everyone who had once lived in the building. It filled her with grief. The news last night had barely covered hers and Deku's fight with the undead monstrosity, citing the graphic nature of the villain's quirk. She doubted there wasn't a video out there somewhere of the fight, but at least no one was questioning Deku's methods on live television. He didn't need it and didn't deserve it, as far as she was concerned. Krow's fight, however, had been shown, although the dust had obscured much of it. That reminded her...

"Well, you were extremely reckless yesterday and insubordinate, too!" Uravity put her hands to her hips. She was only partially serious, fully aware by now that those words meant little to her young charge.

He just yawned. "Yeah, but I didn't have to come. Ryukyu even said so. This isn't mandatory. But she also made it sound like it was, anyway."

"In all honesty, it's not. Ryukyu doesn't operate like that," Uravity assured him, falling back into her role as mentor. "This will be a great opportunity for you to get acquainted with the police and see what goes on during an interrogation."

"I watch enough true crime TV..." He smirked.

Uravity sighed, her shoulders falling. Did he not get it or was he just being difficult? "It's different when you're the one that captured the villain. You'll see!"

It was just before eight o'clock on a Saturday morning, and already the summer heat was on full blast, creeping into even the shadows behind the buildings. Uravity was thankful today would be spent indoors. Overtime wasn't something she often welcomed, but if it meant she could spend the day with Deku, then she couldn't really call it work anymore. The air temperature around her face began to feel just a little hotter and the springtime butterflies took flight.

"Oh, right, Deku will be there, too, huh?" Krow interjected knowingly, ever the observant jokester. "Is he going to be the one interrogating?"

Ochako jumped out of Uravity's skin for a brief moment. "Uh, um, I don't know!"

Krow snickered as they climbed the steps up to the front doors of the police station, his question just a ploy to see her squirm a little. Uravity composed herself and huffed before continuing. "Deku is a police-based hero, not a full on detective, as far as I know, so, I'm not sure what role he'll play in the questioning."

Krow shrugged. He'd get her every single day, and it was at this point she almost begged to be in Mina and Tooru's presence about the same subject. At least they seemed more supportive. In contrast, Krow found it incredibly amusing his direct supervisor had such an obvious crush on her case partner. He found great joy in needling in that fact at every opportunity, and it took all of Uravity's strength not to dissolve in the acid of Ochako's emotions. She couldn't allow herself to be mixed into it. At least not when she was supposed to be on duty.

As they checked into the police station, Uravity kept the conversation squarely on their duties, and Krow finally let her off the hook. She led him through the building to the elevators that would deliver them to the correct floor as detailed in Deku's text that morning.

Floor Eight – Homicide.

When the elevator doors opened, they were greeted by a sprawling room in chaos, as telephones rang off the hook, people discussed clues and cases, and officers moved from one end to the other. This wasn't the first time Uravity had been here, but it was definitely busier than she had ever seen it. On a Saturday, no less!

"Uraraka!" came Deku's voice from behind her.

Krow's comments over the past week permeated into her thoughts, and for a split second, she forgot how to speak to him. Her cheeks turned an even more damning shade of pink. Luckily for her, Deku was accompanied by a familiar man in a tan trench coat who shifted her focus back to the issue at hand.

Detective Tsukauchi also greeted them with a warm smile. "Uravity! It's been some time. How have you been?"

"I've been well, thank you, Detective! I brought along my intern, Krow, for today's interrogation. He was the one that brought down that bat villain."

"Deku told me all about it and I saw the video," Tsukauchi extended his hand for Krow to shake. "Hard to believe you're still a student! Echo is the name of that villain, and he's not the nicest guy around. Thanks for bringing him in!"

Krow took the detective's hand, his cheeks turning pink at the praise. "It was no trouble!"

"Are you the main detective on this case?" Uravity asked as the men parted.

Tsukauchi shook his head. "Deku and I are here in supporting roles. Echo is a known liar. You could call him a professional at it. And Necromancer we're certain is clinically psychotic, so they need my quirk to tell if we're really getting the right answers."

He put a hand on Deku's shoulder. "Deku is the quirk analyst I work with most often. He's going to be outlining Necromancer's quirk in full details and, hopefully, they'll spill the beans on our mystery murderer who brought down the buildings."

"Detective Yamato Funai is the main detective on this case," Deku added. "All three of us will be in the interrogation room."

"Very cool," Krow commented, putting his hands on his hips. "So, when does the show start?"

Tsukauchi looked at his watch. "Soon. Let's get you two situated in the observation room."

"We'll be interrogating Necromancer first," Tsukauchi said as he opened the door to a small room.

It was already crowded with people. They were all standing, speaking in hushed tones and darting their eyes towards the two way mirror. Beyond the mirror was another room, devoid of anything but a metal table and two chairs bolted to the floor. Necromancer sat alone, staring down at the table blankly. Uravity shuddered. The last time she had seen him, he was covered in blood and screaming in Deku's face. Someone had cleaned him up since then and he sat in a new orange jumpsuit.

"I thought you said he was psychotic. Why question him first?" Uravity asked, puzzled.

"Why question him at all?" Krow blurted out and Uravity elbowed him.

"He's less likely to waste our time with lies and he's already revealed to us he and Echo are brothers," Tsukauchi answered. "We're hoping to get some definitive information from him so that Echo's interrogation goes a lot faster. Plus, we'll get to hear his side of things-"

At that moment, the door to the observation room swung open and revealed a few more officers, followed by a stoic man with a perfectly sculpted, white beard. His mouth was invisible underneath the facial hair but it was his icy blue eyes that commanded attention. Dressed in a black vest over a deep blue tie and matching slacks, Uravity had to guess this was Detective Funai.

"All right, let's get this show started," Funai said in a tired, gruff voice. "All we really know about this bozo is his villain alias – Necromancer. And we know some things about his quirk. I want everyone taking notes. He's got clues in that psychotic head o' his and we're gettin' 'em out now, the first damn time. Then, we're getting Echo. Any questions?"

A few people shook their heads and no one spoke.

"Good. Tsukauchi. Midoriya. In with me." Funai ordered, pointing at a door connecting the two rooms.

"Yes sir!" Tsukauchi and Deku followed him in. Another officer locked the door behind them and everyone's attention turned to the two way mirror.

As the detectives came into the room, Necromancer's head shot up and he braced himself by holding either end of the table in front of him. His eyes were wide, his teeth were clenched, and he began to wail as Funai took his seat across from him.

"Murderer! Murderer!"

Tsukauchi and Deku stood at the opposite corners of the room behind Funai and they exchanged glances as Necromancer repeated his screams over and over again.

"Calm yourself, or I'll make you calm down," Funai threatened gently in an even tone that was barely audible over Necromancer's psychotic breakdown. Uravity hoped this didn't become violent and she had to wonder why Necromancer wasn't already handcuffed.

"You! You!" Necromancer tore his hand from the table and pointed at Deku. "You! Murderer! My friends! Broken! You broke them! Broke them!"

The room filled with whispering as the onlookers discussed Necromancer's mental state and their doubt that Funai and his team would ever get anything useful out of him. Unlike everyone else in the room, though, Uravity glanced at Deku. To anyone else, it would appear that he was taking the words in stride, letting them flow over his back like water over a duck's feathers. But she could see the hint of regret bubbling to the surface as Necromancer charged him with the civilians' second killing. The regret from yesterday was poisoning him again, the shadow growing ever more visible, and now there was nothing she could do to help him.

"Okay, that's just about enough of that," Funai said flatly. He lifted his left hand, his fingers becoming elongated like noodles and extended towards Necromancer's head. The sudden movement shocked the tiny man into a frozen silence as Funai's fingertips made contact around his skull. A blue light glowed from the detective's palm all the way to those fingertips across the table and Necromancer immediately calmed down and fell silent.

"That's better," Funai commented. "The name's Detective Funai and I'll be questioning you today. With me is Detective Tsukauchi with the ability to tell if someone is lying, and Deku, our quirk analyst. This is how it's going to work. You're going to tell us a little bit about yourself. I can tell you're very troubled and we're going to get you help."

Necromancer didn't move. His expression didn't change as Funai retracted his fingers.

"First question – what's your name?"

"My name."

"Yes. What is it?"

"My name...Necro."

"What did your mother call you?"

"Genki."

"All right, Genki, can I call you that?" Funai asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Why the hell do you think Deku over there is a murderer? Surely you're aware you were the one reanimating dead bodies yesterday. Surely you know you and your dumbass brother are suspects in a mass murder."

Silence. Funai leaned back in his chair and Necro didn't react at all, keeping his eyes trained on the table in front of him. Funai folded his arms and sighed.

"Genki."

Necro stayed quiet.

"Necro."

He looked up.

"Okay, Necro, tell us why you think he's a murderer." Funai pointed a tired thumb behind him to Deku. "From where I'm sitting, someone else killed those people."

"Someone else...someone...yes."

"Okay, so how could Deku also have murdered them?"

Necro snarled. He seemed so frustrated at needing to explain something so obvious. "I brought them back. Brought them back! I did! And he killed them!"

Funai nodded slightly and then turned around to look at Tsukauchi, who shrugged helplessly. "He's telling the truth. That's his reality."

Funai turned back around at a loss. "Any ideas, Deku?"

"I do, but I don't think he's going to want to talk to me."

"Try it."

"All right..." Deku sighed and approached, his notebook in hand ready with a pen. "Necro, can you tell us about your quirk?"

Necro glared like a spoiled child but answered. "I move bodies."

Funai cut in, chuckling. "I have a body. Can you move me?"

Necro wasn't amused and shouted. "No! No! The soul must leave the body first. Then! Then! Then I put my soul in the body. We become friends. They will do things for me. For me!"

Deku nodded and scribbled into his notebook as Necro explained. "Uh huh...like what?"

"They protected me from you! From you! Villain!"

Deku ignored this. Instead he brought the pen to his lip in thought. "How do you...how do you make your biggest friend?"

"I don't. I don't. He is one body. One. One. One. He comes when I need him. One. One. One..."

Necro trailed off repeating himself. Deku seemed satisfied as he walked back to his corner muttering under his breath as he finished his notes. Funai whipped his head around to follow Deku's back.

"That's it?"

Deku straightened, snapped back to reality as his nose became separated from the binding of his notebook. He turned around and shared his analysis.

"Necromancer is an emitter-type. He emits his life energy onto or into the body to reanimate it, like a puppet master pulling the strings on a marionette. That's why he can only control dead things. It seems he can control a huge number of bodies at a time, but he definitely has a limit to the number of separate parts he can control at once, which is why the big zombie eventually falls apart."

Deku brought his hand to his chin and kept talking. "I was curious how he controlled the huge zombie. I figured that it was a defensive decision, rather than an offensive one, since he has no sensory input while inside it, and he just proved me right. Necro also said it's one body to him, so that means, in his mind's eye, his quirk is an extension of his will, or energy, what he's calling his "soul". I imagine that controlling the big zombie or just a bunch of bodies comes with all sorts of pros and cons...he seemed to make his decisions solely on what Echo told him and he trusts Echo to guide him when inside the big zombie. It was even at Echo's suggestion that Necro make the big zombie. As threatening as he was yesterday, I don't think Necro can be entirely blamed for yesterday's events."

The other men in the opposite room stood flabbergasted at Deku's analysis with such limited data, but Uravity felt a kinship with Tsukauchi and Funai who weren't surprised at all. All three relied on this side of Deku. To the detectives, he was their ace in the hole. To Uravity, he was...

"One fight and a few questions and you got all that? God damn!" Funai was impressed and then turned back to Necro. He brought his hands together in front of him, honestly curious about the deranged man. "Necro, are you aware that your quirk doesn't actually bring people back to life?"

"I tried. I tried."

"Uh huh...I'll ask you again, are you aware you and your brother are complicit in a mass murder?"

Necro grit his teeth. "I! I! I! Don't! I don't! I don't! Control! What Pyromancer does! I brought them back! Brought them back! They were happy! They were beautiful! And they were destroyed! Destroyed! Destroyed!"

Uravity heard Krow shift restlessly where he stood and she turned to look at him. Was he uncomfortable? His arms were folded and his face was serious, almost angry. His eyes never parted from Necro as he murmured, "That's not bringing them back...that's nothing like bringing them back..."

She wanted to question this, but the conversation in the opposite room continued.

"He really thinks he was the hero that day," Tsukauchi commented from his corner, shrugging. "Probably best to move on. I don't think we can convince him he did anything wrong."

Funai nodded, his arms folded in front of him, his eyes becoming stern again as they locked onto Necro who was mumbling under his breath repeatedly. "Then it should be clear we're dealing with someone who is definitively and without a doubt, suffering from Quirk-Induced Psychosis. Let that go on the record."

He sighed and stretched. "But you're right. It's about time we start asking about our main man. This Pyromancer. He must be our guy."

Necro stopped muttering and stared at Funai, his eyes becoming wide with fear. "Pyromancer is a bad man. Bad."

"Yes, and we're trying to catch him," Funai said gently. "You can help us do that by telling us about Pyromancer."

Necro stayed quiet though, his eyes darting between the three men before him. It was like he didn't know where to begin.

"You must be really into the elemental arts," Deku started, his voice friendly, as if he were talking with a child. "I mean, you call yourself Necromancer and I'm sure you named this villain Pyromancer. Is that based on his...kind of magic?"

Necro relaxed and focused on Deku. "Yes. Pyromancer. Powerful villain. Likes to kill people. Kill. I'll bring them back. Bring them back."

"Does Pyromancer...make fire?"

"Yes. No. Yes. No..." Necro repeated himself over and over, his voice becoming constricted, his body shaking. "Yesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesno..."

"We're starting to lose him," Funai murmured. "Necro, do you have any idea why Pyromancer likes to kill people?"

Necro ignored him and continued to mutter, clutching both sides of his head as if he were suffering from a terrible headache. Hyperventilating, Necro slammed his forehead onto the table and whimpered as he continued to repeat himself in a frenzy. Funai only sighed as he extended his quirk to the troubled man, calming him with the blue light of his fingertips again. Necro immediately stopped muttering and lay limp.

"This guy's seriously got a screw loose, but I doubt he can fake post traumatic stress disorder. He's terrified of our guy or at least what he can do."

Tsukauchi chimed in, "Interesting development. Then that means his work with this Pyromancer isn't exactly something he wanted. Why would he stick around someone he's so afraid of, though?"

"That's a fantastic question! Let's ask Echo. I bet that bastard is doing it for drugs or money or something." Funai got up from his metal chair, grumbling.

A police officer standing next to Uravity jumped to attention, the keys at his side rattling as he fumbled for them to unlock the door. He held it open as Funai, Tsukauchi, and Deku came through. Funai addressed the other people in the room with arms crossed, piercing blue eyes commanding attention once again. He waited for a few seconds as everyone got their notes in order. Some of the faces in the room were grim but they offered no questions to fill the silence. They were all professionals here and had to face some hard truths going forward, namely that Necro wouldn't be able to pay for the heinous things he had done.

It occurred to Uravity that most of the people in the room had been hoping for more than what had transpired. She had to agree. In fact, she was hoping that Necromancer would prove to be as diabolical as he appeared to be yesterday, and she was left wondering how to feel about it. If she thought Krow's quirk was a rough one to grow up with, then she could barely imagine Necromancer's struggle. On the other hand, it was difficult to extend sympathy to the tiny man who now rested his head on the metal table. He had certainly attacked them first yesterday and she gathered that Echo had everything to do with it. She was sure this was running through Funai's head as he nodded, scanned the room once more for an interjection, and led the charge across the hallway to the next interrogation room.

Deku hung back with her and Krow, allowing the rest to file out ahead of them.

"Well, that was absolutely crazy," Krow commented. "You were right. I learned a lot."

Uravity turned to him, shocked he conceded to her. "Oh! Thanks. Yeah, I told you."

"We're not done. Now comes the hard part," Deku informed them.

"My guy, you're an absolute unit! If you can figure out Necro's quirk just from that, the bat will be easy!" Krow was officially pumped, but Deku shook his head.

"Echo is already in the system. We have to get him to tell us as much as he can about Pyromancer's quirk and motives."

Deku held the door as Krow walked through. Uravity waited for Deku on the other side so she could walk alongside him.

"Didn't Tsukauchi say Echo was like a pathological liar? Aren't you worried he won't talk?"

Deku scratched the back of his head worriedly. "Uh, well, he's not pathological, he's just not going to give up the truth for free. We'll probably have to negotiate with him, but that's Funai's job. He knows how to handle Echo. This isn't the first time he's come through here, I've been told."

"I've never seen him before."

"Yeah, I was looking through his files last night. He's more of a thief and drug dealer than anything, so you probably would have never gotten involved with him if not for this."

"I see..."

Krow held the next door as Uravity and Deku walked into an observation room identical to the one across the hall. They could see Echo through the two way mirror with his feet propped up on the metal table. His huge, bat-like wings were folded neatly behind him, the tiny claw on each was hooked onto the corresponding shoulder for support. Like Necro, he had been outfitted in a new orange jumpsuit.

Echo's long ears twitched as Funai, Tsukauchi, and Deku entered the room and a wide toothy grin stretched across his face as the men took their positions. Funai only let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Don't start, Echo."

"Aw, you're not happy to see me, old man?"

"Not in the slightest. I don't have time to mess around with your special brand of bullshit today, so tell me what I need to know and we can both get on with our lives. State your full name."

"Who Givesacrap."

"Tsukauchi, you get that?" Funai twisted in his chair to meet glances with the other detective who nodded.

"Yes. Don't worry, I can tell he's lying no matter how good he thinks he is at it."

Funai turned back around to face Echo and spoke loudly. "For our spectators, Echo's real name is Daichi Nagazawa, middle twenties. His Quirk is called "Bat" in which he possesses abilities akin to a bat, such as flight, echolocation, and superhuman hearing. And despite all of these wonderful talents, he's still a drug dealing hooligan who is now wrapped up in a mass murder case with his psychotic brother Genki Nagazawa. Did I miss anything, Daichi?"

Echo's grin disappeared. "You guys questioned my brother first?"

"We did!" Funai folded his hands in front of him, leaning forward with a grin of his own. Necro had been the bartering chip and Echo had no choice but to pay. "Your brother needs some serious help, Daichi, but he's revealed a lot to us that puts you in even more trouble. I'd like it very much if you were straight with me from the get go and we can see about getting your brother the support he needs. Lie to me too many times, and you can kiss that shit goodbye. Do I make myself clear?"

Echo didn't answer, his onyx black eyes only squinting in silent rage at being bested already. Funai took this as an agreement.

"We'll also have to discuss your attempted murders of sidekicks Deku, Uravity, and Krow, but that will come later. For now, get your damn feet off the table and tell me a little bit about this Pyromancer fellow. Your brother is scared shitless of him."

Echo dropped his shackled feet to the floor. "I have no problem rattin' that guy out. What do you want to know about him?"

Funai's brow furrowed in distrust. "His motive. His operation. Bringing down big buildings is flashy as hell and yet we haven't gotten anything on him."

Echo sneered. "That's 'cause you know jackshit about him. You think Pyro only goes for the big buildings? Nah. Pyro hits low-key, too."

"And you know this how?"

"Well, it's how we met. I brought Necro down to one of the drug dens the Yakuza was headin' up some months ago. I supplied them with some shit, dragged Necro to the toilet for a whiz, everything was cool. The minute we get out, the whole place is a smoldering war zone and there's Pyro just standin' there lookin' over his handy work. Yakuza, hoes, first time hitters...everyone burnt to a crisp. I was like, damn. But Necro gets upset and starts reanimating people and using them to attack Pyro, but the man is a machine, ya know? Necro even makes the huge zombie, he's so freaked out. Pyro backs down, he's all impressed and shit. I get Necro to stop, and instead of cookin' us, Pyro enlists me to help him find good buildings to crumble. But it was like being threatened at gun point, ya know what I'm sayin'? That's why Necro is scared."

"I'm sure there was more grovelling and negotiating on your part, but fine. That doesn't explain why you stuck around yesterday and attempted to murder Deku, Uravity, and Krow."

"Necro got scared, went off the deep end. I just helped him. I wasn't about to leave him to get thrown in the slammer all by himself."

"That isn't the whole truth, Echo, but we'll have to come back to that later," Tsukauchi spoke up and approached the table. Funai shook his head in disappointment at the bat. "If you worked closely with Pyromancer, then you must know what he looks like."

"Yeah, he's a giant, old man. American. Gives a crap about nothing," Echo summarized leaning back in his chair. "He plays the part of a tourist really well. Got a big ol' camera with him sometimes, some pretty cool shades. He splits from the building collapses as soon as those bombs he uses goes off. I wouldn't doubt that some dumbass hero escorted him to safety yesterday, and last week, and last month."

Echo cackled at the thought and Funai grumbled. "Who planted the bombs, Echo?"

The bat's smile disappeared and his eyes wandered away from Funai's icy glare. He had almost forgotten he wasn't in charge.

"Don't lie to us, Echo." Funai warned, and the bat was quick to answer.

"We did...Necro did, and I told him to because that's what Pyro wanted. We slipped them in attached to the backs of dead rats, or I'd pretend to be looking for an apartment in a target building and plant them."

"And how do these bombs get set off?"

"I really don't know. There's no, like, timer or anything on 'em."

Funai checked with Tsukauchi on that who nodded in response. He turned back around to face Echo, his arms now folded in frustration. He motioned for Deku to approach. "Perhaps, you can enlighten us on his quirk, then."

Echo grit his teeth at Deku, who only turned to a new page in his notebook nonchalantly. "Is it proper police etiquette to have the heroes who brought us in also interrogate us? Is that not police brutality?"

"Calm yourself, Echo." Funai warned.

"No, no! I just wanna know. Is that crow bastard here, too? Behind the glass? Tell him I'll kick his ass next time."

Krow giggled, a tiny snort escaping his nose. "Guy's salty as fuck."

Uravity could only shake her head as she turned back to the mirror.

"Focus, Echo. Deku is a Quirk Analyst with the police department and his encounters with villains are instrumental to our cases. You will answer him as you would me. With the truth and nothing but the truth," Funai's voice had become even more stern and the bat seemed to understand he was in no position to drag the argument on further.

Echo stared with contempt at Deku, who, to Uravity's surprise, stood unwavering. Perhaps it was because the bat-like villain was a proper villain. It was easier to ignore his judgmental eyes than it was Necromancer's cries.

"Necro wasn't able to confirm or deny that Pyromancer creates fire. Can you?" Deku asked.

Echo clenched his teeth, but reluctantly decided to answer. "It's not a straight answer, that's why, and you'll have to excuse me if I don't give you all the answers." He raised his voice while glaring at Tsukauchi, then turned back to Deku. 

"I wouldn't say he can create fire whenever he likes, like, Endeavor or his brat Shouto or that bastard Dabi, but he can create it when there's, I guess, already a source of heat around? He does his big jobs in the summer when there's a lot of heat to work with, and his small jobs, like the Yakuza den, in the winter. The small shit, he makes it look like an accident."

Deku scratched his chin in thought and Echo seemed to take it as if the green-clad hero didn't understand him. "Look, man, I don't understand all the science behind it. That's your job. All I know is that guy makes shit explode, and melt, and cook and sometimes he can light a fire out of thin air. How does he do it? I don't know!"

"That seems to be all he knows," Tsukauchi confirmed and Deku nodded.

"No, that really helps."

The bat rolled his eyes. "Great. Good. I'm glad I was such a big fuckin' help. Ya know, now that the fight and shit is all over the news, you've put a big target on my back. He knows I'd snitch. I can't tell you how absolutely grateful I am to go to jail."

"Are you telling us that even another villain knows you're a big pile o' crap?" Funai squinted at Echo.

Echo laughed loudly, his shoulders bouncing.

"Before we go, I have a hunch that your staying to fight us yesterday didn't really have anything to do with Necro," Deku said sternly, his green eyes becoming fierce.

It was a strange look for Deku outside of battle and Uravity felt the tenseness grab hold of her. The bat reacted accordingly, frowning and arching an eyebrow. He said cautiously, "Yeah? What makes you say that? Just 'cause that guy over there said so? Maybe I just left out a detail or two."

"You didn't really seem to care that your brother was terrified of us and you also don't really seem to care that he's afraid of Pyromancer. In fact, all you did was use him like a tool to try and murder us. I think you made him believe heroes and villains were interchangeable."

"Well, they are," Echo became dangerous, leaning forward. He slammed his hands on the table. "And I'll have you know I've been babysitting that punk longer than you've been out of school, Deku, don't assume shit about me."

Deku didn't flinch. "Who is Pyromancer targeting?"

"He ain't targeting shit. He just kills whoever the fuck he likes."

"Answer truthfully, Echo." Funai didn't even have to turn around to look at Tsukauchi. "Do not forget what I said."

Echo sneered. "You wouldn't let Necro slip through the cracks."

"How do you use someone so sick and weak as your shield?" Deku asked, his softer, caring side bleeding through his solid exterior.

"Echo, if you dodge the question one more time, you're getting nothing from me. I will personally see to it you get no parole," Funai said evenly, his steely resolve not cracking in the slightest. This is what scared Echo and made him put his hands up.

"Okay, fine. Fine. Look. I'm not wrong. He doesn't usually target anyone. He just kills whoever...civilian, villain, common crook, kids...he don't care. But," the sentence trailed as the bat's signature grin slid back on his face. "He really likes to snuff out heroes. Brand new sidekicks. Whoever the hell attempts to save people out of his murder sprees. Seems to get him off."

"So, he's targeting Uravity," Deku said flatly, as if he had already come to this conclusion. Across the glass, everyone in the adjacent room couldn't help but whip their heads around to witness Uravity's reaction to this bombshell. Eyes wide, Uravity could feel all the terror from yesterday suddenly manifest itself in the pit of her stomach as a sickly helplessness.

"Oh," Echo was impressed, unable to see the concern through Deku's agitation. "This guy is good. You should give him a promotion or something! Yeah...we were told, if there was an opportunity, that we should take her out. He didn't think he'd need to do it on his own..."

As Echo laid out his execution orders against her, Uravity's mind dissolved into paranoia. She lived in an apartment building, and although hers had no store front, it was clear to her that Pyromancer didn't adhere to any hard and fast rules like they originally thought. According to Echo, Pyromancer could and would hit anything he wanted. The lack of a grocer in front of her apartment was not a hindrance. Did they know where she lived? Had Echo been to her apartment without her knowing? The collapse yesterday was not too far away from where she lived – the change in the city skyline from her seventeenth floor balcony had been noticeable last night, to say the least.

She took a deep breath, knowing Krow and the rest of the officers were waiting for a response from her. She refused to give them one. Despite fear being the correct reaction to this development, Uravity was certain this was something heroes faced often enough.

Funai chimed in. "And I doubt Uravity is the only one. And I also doubt Pyromancer is lost without you now. Are there other buildings you have set up for him?"

"Sure. As long as you can guarantee Necro will be okay, I'll give you the whole list," Echo said, putting his feet back on the table much to Funai's ire. He glared at Deku. "Despite what you think, hero, I do give a damn about my brother. But I wasn't about to put him in more danger by disobeying this guy. You have no idea what you're up against. Ya can't imagine what he's capable of."

"It doesn't matter what we're up against," Funai said as he got up from his chair, waving away Echo's ominous warning. "We need to catch this guy. That's all."

He motioned for Tsukauchi and Deku to follow him out, leaving Echo to shrug. The small-time villain didn't watch them leave, his eyes glued to the floor. The solemn look on his face was an indicator that he knew full well he'd be in jail for a lot longer than he ever had been before and he had accepted it.

The door clicked behind Funai as he shut it, looking around the room and then at Uravity. She kept on a brave face. Whether or not Echo and Pyromancer had been outside her door at some point over the past few weeks made no difference right now. What was done was done. At the back of her mind, though, she was rattled, and began thinking about where she would sleep until they caught the fiery madman. It was too dangerous to return home. She could look as brave as she wanted, but facts were facts.

"We'll let Echo rest for a few hours, then we'll be back in to get as much of Pyromancer's hit list from him as humanly possible. I doubt he remembers everything, but lucky for us, he and Pyromancer were not exactly friends. We learned a lot. Really made some headway," Funai summarized for the spectators. He brought his hands to his hips, the pressure to catch Pyromancer clearly making the wrinkles in his face deeper. He sighed. "Anyway, let's break. There's still much to do and no time to do it."

At that, the spectators dispersed out of the room, leaving Uravity to ponder her current predicament with Krow, Deku, and Tsukauchi. The latter came up to her gently, putting his hand on her shoulder in support, his face grim but hopeful.

"Everything is going to be okay," the detective said. "If a villain hates you, it just means you're doing your job right."

Uravity gave him a weak smile. "Thanks. But considering he likes to take down apartment buildings..."

"Of course. Feel free to stay here at the station or call a friend and stay with them until this all blows over. We'll have to confirm with Echo if your place is even on Pyromancer's list."

"I suppose you're right..."

"Yeah, but, dude, how could you even think she was a target?" Krow cocked his head to the side, his questioning gaze pointed to Deku, who was happy to explain.

"Well, I figured Echo could have easily escaped yesterday with Necromancer. We wouldn't have known any better, but he made the decision to stay despite being outnumbered. He could not have been targeting you or me because we hadn't responded to a building collapse yet. That left Uravity who had been to every one so far."

"But why would the big man give that kind of order? And why wouldn't Echo just lie about it? Say he didn't see us and fly away with Necro?" Krow lifted his arms in a shrug.

Uravity had to admit she was impressed with Krow. Sometimes he made outlandish remarks, sometimes his dark humor superseded his analytical thinking, but it seemed his want to learn trumped all of that. He asked any question and said whatever was on his mind as if the repercussions never occurred to him. They probably didn't. Tsukauchi and Deku both smiled at these questions, but it was the former who spoke first, "Now you're thinking like a detective!"

Deku followed the sentiment by nodding. "Great questions. If you remember all the things Echo said, you'll see he answered them all on his own. He cares for his brother's well-being. He doesn't want to admit it, but he's also scared of Pyromancer. He was stuck between a rock and hard place and decided that jail was the best escape."

"Well, he didn't have to fight so damn hard..." Krow murmured.

The group exited the room and walked down the hall to join in the main homicide office. Things had calmed down greatly since earlier that morning. It was emptier. Tsukauchi parted from the group to meet up with Funai. His job today wouldn't be finished until the bat gave up every address and every name he could recall from Pyromancer's lists. Who knew how long those lists were? Who could guess what was really on them? Uravity already knew she was one, the thought sticking to the forefront of her brain, oozing into her thoughts like a nasty syrup. The returning thought that Echo had probably lurked just outside her apartment door made her skin crawl. At work, she was formidable Uravity who saw these things coming. At home, she was plain old Ochako who wrongly assumed her bedroom was a safe space.

Krow's voice penetrated through her mind, chasing the intrusive thoughts away. Despite the danger his direct supervisor was in, he wore his usual, playful smirk. "Well, I'm out of here, gang."

"You're leaving? You can stay to go over the case with us," Uravity reminded him. The crow-like hero had already considered that as he shrugged.

"It's Saturday, my dudes. I still have summer assignments and relaxing to do. I gotta recharge. I'll see you two on Monday, bright and early."

Uravity sighed, but it couldn't be helped. It was already amazing he had pulled himself out of bed this morning to be here when it wasn't mandatory. "Okay, then, let me walk you back to the office!"

"Uh, hold on, Uraraka," Deku stopped her as she joined Krow near the elevator. She turned around to meet his gaze, the worry unveiled in his frown. She knew he was having a hard time with this as well. Her being a target was new to them both. During their first year, Bakugo had been the target of a League of Villains' operation, but at least they hadn't wanted to kill their target. This was different. Someone wanted her dead and he had more than the means to do it. But she was a hero. Every twist and turn in her professional life going forward was going to be rife with danger. Deku knew that. They shared a deep respect for each other, one that fostered a firm belief the other was capable, dependable, and independent. They weren't a weakling that needed supervision. However, there was a primal drive to worry regardless. Here was someone they couldn't lose. All of this was easily legible in his eyes.

Answering this gaze was difficult. Had the roles been reversed, nothing would change. She would be just as uncomfortable with the whole thing as he was now. Her spirit had to break through the doubt, so she smiled as if she weren't scared. "It's a very short walk. I'll be fine for the fifteen minutes there and back. Don't worry!"

"Are you sure? I don't think anyone will mind if I join you."

"I'm sure! Besides, I need to talk to Krow about yesterday and today. See what he's learned. I can't have you there giving him all the answers!" She was coming up with this on the spot. She couldn't drag Deku away from his work, even if his intentions were sweet and expected. Her bubbly confidence eased his distress, and replaced it with an assured smile.

"All right, then. Meet me back here."

"Will do!"

The elevator pinged as the doors opened. Krow said nothing as he walked in and Uravity followed, the two of them waving goodbye to Deku as the doors closed shut. As they descended, Uravity found herself in a bit of a pickle. She had inadvertently promised a pop quiz or a discussion with her intern on their way back while trying to assuage Deku's anxiousness, when in reality she had nothing prepared. If she didn't think of something, Krow would immediately know she was fibbing for Deku's sake. The impending torment loomed ever closer as they gently landed at the bottom floor and the elevator pinged.

This was fine, though. It was just a discussion. She could ask him anything to get a dialogue going. She pushed the doors to the police station open and started the show.

"So. What did you think?" It was innocent enough. Pointed. Direct enough to begin going over the case and the benefits of joining the police in their interrogations. One could learn so much about the villains they fight. Yes, she could feel it now. Iida was successfully channeled.

Krow took a minute to respond, gathering his thoughts as he squeezed his chin, looking up at the buildings. Then he smirked, and Uravity knew she was done for. "I think I'll be lucky if I find someone who looks at me like that."

He was picking on her again, she just knew it, and it left her fumbling as dumbfounded Ochako. She had to assume her conversation with Deku just a few minutes ago had spurred this. Perhaps her eyes still revealed all of the longing she felt when alone with her thoughts about him, even when she was supposed to be Uravity. Ochako never could hide her feelings well, but she thought she had at least gotten somewhat better at it over the years Deku had been absent. She sputtered her response and sealed her fate. "We-we're just friends!"

Krow's grin couldn't be wider as he threw his head back and covered his eyes in peak amusement. He wheezed, attempting to reign in a full on laugh. "Please, oh please...I can't even with this."

Ochako huffed and crossed her arms. Had she blown her own cover? Or did Krow know from day one when he had suggested they were already an item? She refused to say anything else on the topic. "We're supposed to be going over what you learned today, and here you are being ridiculous again!"

He took a deep breath, calming himself. "We both know you only said that so he wouldn't worry, but he's gonna anyway. Have you noticed I only do this to you when he's not around? I'm trying to be your friend here."

"Poking fun at me isn't what good friends do!"

"Telling you to confess is also boring as fuck."

Tooru and Mina ran through her mind, their giggles echoing off of the deep, dark chasm she found herself in. Yet another person knew. She was too obvious for her own good. She was at a loss. At this rate, she wondered how long it would be before the media took a crack at it.

Krow lifted up an index finger as if he were the teacher now and continued. "I'm going to ask you a question, and I really want you to think about it. What do you get out of hiding your feelings for him? Honestly? I'm sure you've come up with all these great reasons not to say anything, but what are they good for?"

Ochako didn't answer that question, although it stung. "My personal life isn't really part of your training, Krow."

They stopped in front of the Ryukyu offices, the sunlight steadily becoming a deadly laser. Once again, his philosophical questions irked her and she found that she couldn't answer it right now even if she broke down the barrier between student and teacher and confided in him all of her woes concerning this issue. It was as relevant to both her dual lives as his question about the truth earlier that week. On his first day, he probably hadn't realized how often she exchanged the truth for convenience, or how much it had become a habit. Transparency was in her nature. Her perpetually rosy cheeks and the fact that she was never prepared when faced with the truth, just like now, was evidence enough. In fact, the first thing she had ever denied in her life was her love for Izuku. The ugly addiction to the excuses and escapes to stressful things only snowballed from there. It was easier. That was the answer. It was easier to let Uravity's bravery and focus on heroics take over when Ochako's silly feelings became too forlorn.

But what did she get out of it, besides the status quo? Was there anything positive to staying this way? She had never thought about it. It was the selfless thing to do. That's all. But was all this pain really that easy? That was the real question here.

"You're right," Krow said, putting up his hands, conceding to her point. "Just think about it. Please."

He then walked up the front steps and went inside, leaving Ochako to fret over his question as she collected a change of clothes and walked all the way back to the police station by herself. It wasn't until she reached the elevator and pushed the button for the eighth floor that she questioned Krow's position.

Why was he so interested in this? Everyone else had their reasons, or they watched it play out, but not Krow. His "please" had sounded desperate. Was he coming from a place of experience? It certainly seemed like he did. His question was so beyond what she had ever considered in the years this crush lingered. She had always viewed the crush itself as a distraction. In her mind, it threatened her relationship with Izuku and it also threatened her personally. No one likes getting rejected, especially when they were in this deep. However, she never considered that perhaps all of that distraction came from her own inaction.

When Ochako meandered over to where Deku was sitting in a cubicle of his own, he looked up at her in concern. It wasn't like before when he was fearing for her life. It was more tender. He just knew something was wrong internally as his eyes met hers, dark and lost.

"Are you okay?" Deku prompted her.

Ochako shook her head and smiled. She wouldn't let Krow's words dig into her, not when there was a case to be solved and a villain to be captured. She swept it all under the rug. Uravity had a job to do.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine!" Uravity said, taking a seat in the chair opposite of him. "The heat is unbearable out there. That's all!"

"Okay." She could tell he didn't buy it, but moved on. He was too respectful of her to pry anymore. As with most things in their past, all he had to do was wait and she'd eventually come around and talk. He didn't need to remind her he was always there for her. That was a given. So, he half-smiled and lowered his gaze back down to the paper in front of him.

The desk between them was littered with documents from neighboring hero agencies. Their experiences at the apartment building collapses had been given to Deku in case the Ryukyu office had missed something. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to be adding anything new to what Deku already knew, and a stack of folders lay at his right, opposite the computer monitor and keyboard as his designated "done" pile. His face was contorted in stress, and Uravity watched his eyes quickly scan each document as he muttered, hunting for something enlightening. There was nothing.

"Are...you...okay?" Uravity asked him. She felt silly asking this, since she hadn't been entirely truthful when he had asked, not to mention it was clear what was bugging him. He could know everything about Pyromancer and yet the man was still out there, free to murder anyone he liked, including Uravity herself.

"I'll be okay," was his solemn answer.

"Tell me how I can help. I'm here all day!"

"It's just that something Echo said bothered me," he peered up from the file. Uneasiness had seeped into his demeanor and mixed with the worry she had seen before walking Krow back to the office. His eyes darted away from her, the trouble only building. "His first meeting with Pyromancer was deemed an accident by the police. I looked it up while you were gone. How many other, smaller crimes like that has he committed? There are plenty of arson and fire incidents in our records for this year and most are closed cases. How do we know which ones are from Pyromancer in actuality? I should have known bringing down big buildings wasn't the only thing he would do, not with his first case we have on file from Alaska. That was such an oversight."

The pressure to catch Pyromancer was clear on Deku's face, and he relieved some of the tension with a heavy-hearted sigh. Uravity could only listen as Deku went on. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to unload all of this on you."

"That's okay! What are friends for?" Uravity reminded him.

He took the invitation to continue, frustration lacing each word. "Yeah. It's just...every time I learn something about him and I feel like I understand what's going on, all of a sudden there's a brand new angle to him. He's perpetually shrouded in mystery and people keep dying because we can't figure him out."

Deku covered his mouth in thought, his brow furrowing. "It's like he's...not motivated by anything."

"Maybe he's trying to tell us something?"

"I suppose. But killing indiscriminately?" He shrugged, his face scrunched in doubt. "If that's true, then he's making it very difficult to follow. At least with Stain and the like, they had certain targets. This guy doesn't, save for the heroes that get in his way too often."

He sighed again, distraught, staring at the files before him. "This is the toughest case I've ever been on. By now, we'd at least have a working hypothesis."

She wanted to hug him, squeeze all of his insecurities out. She had done it once or twice before in high school when he would get overwhelmed. Anthills suddenly looked like mountains, and he needed to be grounded, something only a warm touch could solve. Now, however, she kept herself planted in her seat. They were still close, but the time apart before this whole fiasco made the thought of touching him at all seem wildly inappropriate. She would have to save him with her words again.

"Don't let it psych you out, Deku," Uravity said softly. Deku slowly brought his head up to face her, the worry already crumbling away. "I don't think you need every single crime he's committed. From where I'm standing, you have his quirk pretty much figured out. And don't forget...he's been doing this a long time. He's never been caught. His MO has been stumping police in at least two countries now for fifty years. Don't beat yourself up that you haven't figured it out in a week."

The next sigh that escaped him was one of relief. A weak smile lit up his face and Uravity dissolved into Ochako for a moment to relish in its radiance. How simple it was for her to pick him up where he faltered; she would do it whenever and wherever he needed it. If she could keep him grounded, then his saving the world was something she could take credit in, too. She only wished she could do the same for Flashlight...for Krow...

The rest of the day was spent agonizing over case files, these including witness testimony from Pyromancer's recent crimes. Uravity had been able to convince Deku that they need not pour over old arson records. For the most part, Pyromancer's quirk was as detailed as they could muster without ever having met the man. It came to pass that both Funai and Tsukauchi agreed that this was as good as it was going to get.

When they interviewed Echo again for the hit-lists, the bat was more than willing to cooperate, after so many hours to think about it. Echo gave them as detailed a list as he could, and just as they feared, Ochako's apartment building was on the list. However, the list also threw an official wrench into any working hypothesis the team had come up with.

"He's changing up his routine. It's to mess with you guys, really," Echo said in passing as he finished off the building list. He pointed to two office building addresses, one being Ryukyu's office, for obvious reasons, and the other still under construction. Uravity saw the frustration on Deku's face. While in Japan, Pyromancer had only hit apartment buildings. In fact, he hadn't attacked an office building in many years, and yet, here they were, in his future demolition plans.

"Explains why he's so hard to track. All of these are seemingly random," Funai commented as he read down the list. "But, we can at least warn the residents and the landlords of these locations."

"He probably won't go after them now if you're gonna remove his groundwork, ya know? But, let me be really frickin' clear to you guys," Echo said, his arms crossed and feet on the table. "I don't mean to be pun-y, but he just likes to watch the world burn. It didn't seem to me that there was any other reason he does this. He never said anything to me, but, I'm telling you now...if you go after him, people are gonna die. He don't go easy. He don't play. It's a swift operation."

"We get it, Echo, he's a smooth criminal and his operation is so well thought-out that your low ranked ass can't wrap your head around it," Funai quipped and Echo grumbled. "Sucks when the person you're talking to is an asshole, huh?"

"Get it all in now, old man. Next time we talk, I ain't gonna be this easy," Echo promised.

By the end of the day, Uravity could see a marked improvement in Deku's attitude. He seemed confident as he wrote up his reports into the computer, detailing Necro's and Pyromancer's quirks. Although there wasn't much for her to do now, Uravity stayed poised in the conference seat across from him, sharing a pot of tea and acting as a sounding board for his muttering. Despite all the jarring news they had received today, there was an air of peace right here, right now that Uravity indulged in. Watching Deku so engrossed in his element was a treat. He was incredible on the battlefield – everyone knew that. Not many knew this side to him, this incessant thinker that even seasoned detectives begged to slow down. To think she was getting paid to do this. She would have done it for free.

There was a knock on the wood frame of his cubicle, and Funai appeared, a jacket thrown over his shoulder. His icy eyes were soft now, no doubt thankful to have such a busy bee as Deku on his team. Nevertheless, the gruffness in the detective's voice was present as he spoke gently.

"It's after five, son. Go home."

"I will once these are done."

Funai stared hopelessly for a beat before shattering the peace in the cubicle. "Or better yet, why not take the lady out for some dinner? She's been here all day on overtime, for Christ's sake."

That stopped Deku's typing. Uravity abandoned Ochako, leaving her there to blush and stare at the floor. The detective didn't seem to notice and didn't respond to the obvious discomfort.

"They say the heat's gonna break a little tonight," he said as he walked away. "Just a suggestion."

The elevator pinged and he was gone. Ochako placed her cup back on its saucer and got up from her chair to stretch the embarrassment away. When she did she noticed the office was almost barren. The night shift had come in as the sun's orange rays filtered through the big windows. It was the height of summer, so it would be a while before the sun finally left for the day, but its brightness had certainly dimmed to the benefit of the city.

"He's right," she heard Izuku say as he stood as well. "I can finish this in the morning."

They had been sitting for the last few hours, and she heard his joints crack as he stretched. Her eyes traced the outline of his body, his hero costume only leaving some things a mystery. And to think she was still on the clock for this. When she noticed she couldn't summon Uravity back, she looked away at the cubicle door frame, anything to chase those thoughts away.

"W-what do you mean by that?" she asked shakily, her cheeks heating up.

She heard papers rustling and looked back to see he was cleaning up the work area, trying to ensure the files were returned to the proper folders. "Well, it's been about a week, and we still haven't done lunch yet."

"Yeah, that's true," Ochako lingered. She had almost forgotten. With all of the serious calls, training and struggling with Krow, the building collapse, fighting literal zombies, and finding out a wanted criminal wanted her head, the simple want to catch up with her estranged friend had been pushed to the wayside. She sighed as she realized how incredibly easy it had been to forget all about their lunch date, even when he had been so close. He dealt with this sort of workload and stress all the time, it was no wonder he hadn't called her back over the last two years. Suddenly, it all made sense, more than before. Here he was trying, though. He had remembered when she hadn't, and was making every effort to follow through.

"At this rate, it's probably not going to happen. There's just too much going on in the day," he said, becoming flustered just like that night on the balcony. "And, well, if you're not busy tonight, we might as well just do dinner, right?"

Ah, yes, just dinner. It was just food. Right? No need to assume it was a date of any kind. A dinner between colleagues. A dinner between friends. She was so glad Krow had gone home.

"Uh, yeah, that makes sense. Let's do that then," she answered against her internal screaming. She turned away from him to aid in calming herself down. "I...heard there was a new ramen shop that opened a few blocks from here. I pass it all the time on my patrols."

"Sounds good. We can walk there," Deku said as he passed her. "The station has separate locker rooms, if you're okay changing here."

"Yup!" Ochako said as she held up the small duffel bag she had brought from the Ryukyu office earlier.

Once changed, the duo left the police station and walked down the street, their conversations starting immediately. It was just like old times, when the words and the laughter came as easily as the ocean breeze that swept along the street. The sun's heat had died down considerably, and so its rays only cast the orange glow of evening in the city. Cars whizzed by and people passed them, but all that existed was the other person. This was nice.

Better yet, their conversation didn't revolve around the current case. No, it spanned throughout the two years they spent apart. It was the conversation that should have been had on Momo's balcony. Ochako and Izuku weaved tales of glory and triumph over villainy. The things they'd seen, the people they got to work with, the close calls, the praise, the challenges...it was all very exciting. Neither let up for a moment.

"You know, they had me train for a whole month for this position," Izuku said. "I got out of school with you guys and then went right back in."

"To be a quirk analyst?"

"Yeah."

"But...did you show them your notebooks?"

Izuku laughed. "I should have! But I'm glad I went. I learned so much more about quirks in much more detail than we did in school."

"Is that how you figured out Necro's quirk so quickly?"

They stopped at an intersection, the crosswalk signage a blaring red across the street. "Sort of. It certainly helped."

"What's the coolest thing you learned? Like...something we didn't learn in class?" Ochako asked, honestly intrigued. She thought she saw him blush at the attention.

"Well, they really got into how emitter-type quirks work and how a lot of them are just a movement of energy," Izuku began, but noticed he had already lost Ochako. "Okay, a great example would be Nejire's quirk Wave Motion. She takes her own life energy and produces waves with it. For Kaminari, his quirk is just a discharge of his own electrical energy. For Necro...well I explained that before. Does that make sense?"

The crosswalk signaled for everyone to cross and they followed the pack across the street. Ochako nodded. "That is really fascinating."

"Yeah. But there was a point to that lesson." Izuku grew a little more serious. "Emitters can die from their quirk usage pretty easily. And I never thought of that before. Like, with your quirk. You eventually get all the signs to stop using it."

"You mean by my weight limit?"

"Yeah. You start feeling sick from overuse. But there are some people who don't have a hard stop like that. There have been a few times where we were called to a crime scene where someone was just...dead. In their apartment. No obvious break in or anything. It's happened twice since I've been on the force."

"Hm, that's so odd. I mean, after working with Nejire for so long, I just assumed anyone using their own life energy to use their quirk just made more like she does?"

"I did, too. But, in reality, she's just really lucky she can do that. You too. My mom, also. You both expend energy, but you also bring it back to yourself when you're done. I don't think you'll ever be in any true danger from using your quirk, Uraraka."

"That's a relief. Now, I just need to make sure I don't float myself into the stratosphere and you'll be right!"

They both laughed. Izuku spoke next. "It's the reason why Pyromancer's quirk has been bothering me. He is clearly an emitter, but his range and power is just...unprecedented. I wonder if he gets tired from using it on an entire building. Could explain why he only attacks one building at a time..."

"He must be using his own energy to attract the heat and then go from there. Heat is just energy in itself, right?"

Izuku was impressed. "That's a really great point!"

"I remember a few things from science class."

"Wasn't that the test we studied for together? Kinetic and potential energy?"

"Oh! Is that why I remember so much of it?"

Was this flirting? Ochako wasn't sure. If it was, she and Izuku had been flirting for years. The thought wiggled out of her mind as quickly as it had wiggled in, just a reminder to her what was really going on here. It offered her a warm sense of happiness and her cheeks grew redder.

As she looked ahead, she could see the ramen shop just a few stores down. The corner restaurant was an old style ramen bar, with seating outside as stools lined up against the wooden bar. Wide, red pieces of curtain lined along the edge behind seated patrons, shielding them from the bright, fiery glow of the setting sun and the passerby walking along the sidewalk.

Despite the 'Grand Opening' banner hung overhead, there were still some seats open next to each other, right at the very end at the edge of the restaurant. Izuku offered Ochako the first seat and then sat between her and another patron. A laminated menu was already in front of them both and they picked each up in unison. Everything looked so delicious and the scent of spices and broth filled her nostrils. She hadn't noticed how hungry she really was.

"Deku, let's not forget to tell the waiter to split the check. I always forget when I go out with Tsu," Ochako said as she looked over the menu.

Izuku looked at her confused. "Okay, but why?"

Ochako also became confused. "Well, I thought it might make things easier, but I can pay you back if that's how you want to do it."

"Oh, no, Uraraka, I got it." He turned back to the menu, his decision final. It left Ochako feeling flustered. She was certain this was just an outing among friends, but if he was going to pay for everything...

"Are you sure, Deku?"

He smiled sweetly at her, but wasn't given a chance to answer. The patron sitting next to him butted in on their conversation.

"Deku? Like the hero, Deku?" came a guttural voice from Izuku's left where a large man was seated. He spoke in perfect Japanese but the inflection and accent almost made him difficult to understand. A tiny sake cup was lost in his huge hands, and he took a sip. This wasn't a fan, and something in Ochako turned inside out as an awful feeling slowly took hold of her. Something was wrong.

Izuku seemed to agree with this feeling as his face turned sharp and the pace of his breathing became more deliberate. He slowly turned so that he was facing forward so as not to bring too much attention to the situation, but Ochako looked straight up at the man.

His snow white hair was kept out of his face by a pair of welding goggles, but this feature was all that made him stand out from the crowd, save for the fact that he wasn't Japanese. The sleeves to his long, dark brown jacket were rolled up. The dark stains there and on his similarly colored gloves reminded Ochako of the soot that had been in Izuku's hero costume yesterday.

"Well, are you gonna answer me?" the man asked. "I want to know if I'm really this lucky."

"Should I know you?" was Izuku's answer and suddenly Ochako felt like she was back in the observation room watching Deku interrogate. Unfortunately, Necro and Echo had nothing on this guy's presence, and it made all the sense in the world why the two of them were so scared of him. A wide grin stretched and folded the stubbled wrinkles of his cheeks.

"Your girlfriend over there is a real fan of my work. She comes to every show," the man continued, snickering at his own joke. "I could have put on a special show for her, but you and a little birdy took my roadies."

Izuku became even more tense and leaned forward in a way that placed him squarely and defensively between the man and Ochako. He reached slowly for his cell phone in his pocket, but the man snapped at him in a dangerously low voice. "God forbid you call anyone, make any noise, I swear I will blow this place to smithereens."

"Then I guess that makes you Pyromancer," Deku said in an equally low tone. Although Ochako had suspected as much, hearing Deku say it out loud made the nightmare all the more real.

"Is that what they're calling me these days? See, in America, they called me Demolition, but you can call me whatever the hell you like. I've never been one for names."

"What do you want?" Izuku asked firmly and Pyromancer only chuckled a bit more as he poured more hot sake into his cup.

"I just wanna talk."

"I've heard that before."

"Other villains like talking to you? Interesting. Probably because you're not really all that threatening up close." Pyromancer chuckled again. Izuku took no offense. Rather, Ochako could see he was looking for an escape, some way to put out this runaway fire. There wasn't one. "It's good to become acquainted before we inevitably kill each other. Although, I know everything I care to about you already. I have to tell you, you two have really pissed me off. Just let me do my work and I'll spare you."

"We're heroes. If you think for a second we'll let you get away with what you've done, you're dead wrong," Izuku's voice was even and tense, but Ochako could hear the building fear in it as he struggled to find an exit. Their entrapment was getting more real by the second.

Pyromancer snorted as he brought the sake to his lips and took a swig. "You really think you're saving anyone? Why don't you look at the big picture? You barely consider who you're saving. The thief, the child molester, the wife beater...you save a man who could be someone else's living nightmare, a drain on society, a piece of shit who has no business passing on his pointless genes. Let people die. It's just nature taking its course. It's how evolution works, and the human race has been stagnated by heroes constantly protecting people who bring nothing to the table. Saving useless people, quirkless people, dangerous people...that's not helping humanity. It doesn't serve any long term purpose."

"I'll have to disagree."

"Figured you would," Pyromancer shrugged his huge shoulders. "All the heroes I eventually kill are always so sure their world view is the right one even though it's so small. That's fine. They squared up against me, and their quirk wasn't better than mine. So, they died."

"No American hero has been able to beat your heat transfer?"

"That's a good name for it. Heat transfer...maybe you know more about me than I thought. Guess I'm getting rusty." Pyromancer seemed so cool and collected as he genuinely smirked. He wasn't intending to be intimidating. He also didn't seem too convinced in his own statement. Something in Ochako made her believe he intended for them to catch Echo and Necro.

"To be able to wield heat energy any way I want has been useful in challenging people to save themselves. Plenty of people have survived my disasters and I commend them. For those that haven't, well, no loss."

"That's really despicable." Ochako grit her teeth. What sort of man commits the kind of crimes Pyromancer has committed? She should have known it was one with an ideology. Who was worth saving? She had never considered it. The question fell out of the scope of her work. It wasn't her job to save people from themselves.

"Think what you like, little lady." Pyromancer had so many years to convince himself what he was doing was right. He thought himself a natural disaster, something only the fittest would or should survive. Those with the best traits and quirks went on to reproduce. However, it seemed somewhere along his destructive journey, fewer and fewer people deserved to make the cut. Somehow, to Pyromancer, his two recent associates had quirks that earned them a check-mark in his book. It was the only way to explain their survival to this point.

Pyromancer took another swig from his cup, staring ahead. His cold, black eyes were squinted as he watched the waiters dote on their patrons. Everyone was so unaware of the danger sitting right there at the edge of the restaurant, and there was no way to reach them. "Either one of you ever been to Alaska?"

"Can't say I have." Izuku answered quickly. Pyromancer sat up straight and Izuku kept in line with him.

"It's beautiful. Just a short jump over the ocean. One of the last real wildernesses of our world. Pristine. I used to live there. Born and raised. But even people there are hell to each other and the place they call home. Like cockroaches."

"Is that why you scorched the entire town?" 

"I did. Never looked back. And nobody was worse for it."

"Why come here, then? Aren't there more American towns to hit?"

Pyromancer nodded. "Sure there are! But it was time to close up shop there before they got too close to my tail. This was close by, but far enough. All I need is a metropolitan wasteland, and you're country is full of them. Dirty, lots of hiding spots. Lots of people squished into buildings like sardines – it's too easy. There's always an open flame somewhere, or some chemical or gas in the air I can ignite. I mean, shit, I could blow you up right now."

"You planted bombs here? Why? Why here?"

Pyromancer finally turned his gaze, looking down at them completely indifferent. Ochako felt her stress spike as Pyromancer apathetically focused on her, his complete disregard for life evident in those eyes black as coal. This was no Shigaraki – this man knew exactly what he was doing and he was cool and collected about it. Talking to Izuku was just part of the entertainment his work afforded him.

"Nope, I didn't need to do that. In fact, before I leave, I'll throw a little wrench into your working theories about me – I don't need to use bombs, they just help with the destruction."

Pyromancer pointed ahead. Both Izuku and Ochako followed the finger's trajectory to the stove. One of the cooks turned on a burner, the blue flame sparking to life. Pyromancer didn't want to talk. He wanted to distract.

Before Ochako could put two and two together, the air around her suddenly turned frigid. In just a second, the heat had been sucked out of the surrounding area, leaving her breath a tiny cloud as it escaped her mouth. She was frozen in shock, the inability to do anything sliding into her consciousness. It felt as if the whole world were standing still as the stove began to ignite in slow motion. She would not have been able to escape on her own anyway, cried another thought, as she was snatched from her stool by Izuku, the only one capable of outrunning the blast.

As she fell into his arms, the sound of the violent explosion suddenly shook the world into playing at normal speed. The fire burst through the restaurant as they narrowly escaped, engulfing the entire corner in flame and light before retreating into the blackened hole it had made for itself. Smoke poured out of the broken building, the fire still wild as it was fed more and more gas from the natural gas pipe.

Now a comfortable distance away, Izuku set Ochako on her own two feet, and she staggered. Overcome with grief and fear, she threw her arms around him and choked out a "thank you". She swallowed her tears as he returned the embrace. They looked back at the smoldering corner, a sick sense of relief washing over them both.

Pyromancer was gone.


	6. Inferno

She had tried to keep her chin up. Throughout the whole day, that disgusting feeling of having been watched for who knew how long had eaten at her. She felt violated. Trapped. She gulped and put on her best mask. As a hero, Uravity would be a target. That had to be expected. She had to bite the bullet and brush it off. She still had to live her life and that included taking a careless stroll with a close friend in the very neighborhood the predator lurked. What else could she have done? The predator was silent as a mouse, as visible as a ghost, and smarter than most any villain she had ever faced so far. She couldn't follow him into the darkness, drag him out, and make him pay. No. This one was too good at what he did. He had so much practice. She would have never seen him unless he wanted her to, and now, it seemed, he was toying with her.

It was all a ploy to distract and unnerve his prey before striking in whatever way he saw fit. Clearly, he wanted her to know he was after her. He wanted her to know why he was killing her. It was important to him. It was another way to continue to prove to himself he was correct and she and Izuku were not. There would be a face-off, Ochako was sure of this. He'd said it himself – other heroes had squared up against him and lost. Taking out heroes was a different operation entirely from his normal one of torching every sorry soul in sight. He'd wait. He'd let the late afternoon incident sink in and drive his query mad before taking it out of its misery. The aftermath of this latest attack only helped his sinister game.

There had been no one to rescue in the inferno. The bodies of the patrons that had, at one moment, enjoyed their meals, were charred beyond recognition the next. When the gas was finally shut off, their remains were pulled out of the building, packed into black body bags, and taken away. For Ochako and Izuku, they were both whisked back to the police station, the eighth floor a chaotic zoo once more.

Every time Ochako explained her version of the story, she felt her strong, stalwart exterior crack more and more. She felt like a rabbit caught in a trap, so exposed and helpless, forced to lie there and wait for the hunter to return to claim her. No where was safe. Her body begged to shake, cry, and become vulnerable, but she refused to allow it. She wouldn't let Pyromancer win. If his goal was to scare her off, then she refused to be scared, at least, right now where the world could judge her. Where he could see her. She swallowed the fear. One outburst in front of Izuku was all she would ever allow herself in public again.

Ochako had not been allowed to return to her apartment that night, and instead, was ordered to stay at the police department. It wasn't as if she wanted to go back home anyway. It was no longer secure. She wasn't sure if Pyromancer had intended to kill her or Izuku at the restaurant, or if it was just part of the scare tactic. Either way worked. In the uncertainty, he'd probably destroy her building anyway, just in case or to continue the pursuit. Whatever came first, he didn't seem to mind how long or how much destruction it would take. He clearly had time on his hands along with all that blood.

"The cots aren't so bad," Izuku spoke into the silence of the elevator, the whirring of the cables the only other noise. His voice snapped her out of her spiraling agita, and she met his green eyes. He had been little more than relieved when the fires hadn't revealed Pyromancer back at the restaurant, but beside that, he didn't seem shaken. Perhaps he was hiding it like she was. Perhaps his disappointment in himself for being caught unprepared was distracting him now.

Or maybe he was returning the favor. She knew she was awful at hiding her feelings, and if she was feeling frightened, he'd see it. Much in the way she could always lift his spirits when he found himself in a pit of despair, he always made her feel safe. This was a sticky situation, but together they'd find a way out of it. She could trust him with that. Even now, after everything that had happened, her fear was waning with each passing second alone with him. She was glad he had also been ordered to stay at the police station for the night.

She gave him a sideways glance. "You just live here, don't you?"

Izuku blushed at the correct assertion. "W-well...sometimes. I have a rental, but sometimes it makes more sense to just sleep here, like I had to do last night."

The elevator gently landed on the basement level and the doors opened to a pitch black room. Izuku stepped out and felt the wall until he came to a light switch. Flicking it on, the black suddenly became illuminated with old, fluorescent light. Ochako could now see it was a large space where bunk-beds and cots sprawled across the floor in a grid-like pattern. Each was like a tiny little room, fit with a small dresser and lamp. Most all of them were clean and tidy, save for one Ochako assumed was Izuku's from the night prior, the comforter a wrinkled ball on the slim mattress.

Ochako followed Izuku to his cot and claimed the one directly across from it. She sat, staring at the floor, relieved and fatigued.

The lamp on Izuku's side of the aisle blinked on as he pulled the chain, the orange glow from the light bulb becoming lost in the fluorescence from above. "Is there anyone you can room with until this blows over?"

Ochako heavily shook her head. "I would room with Tsu, but...I don't think that's a great idea. I don't want her to get sucked into all of this. I'll probably end up just staying here."

Izuku nodded as he walked back to the elevator to shut off the overhead lights. The room was cast in darkness again, save for Izuku's one little lamp. "I suppose you're right. Maybe once they have cleared your apartment building and it's safe, we can go over there and get you some extra clothes."

He sat on the edge of his mattress and kicked off his red shoes. The aisle between their beds was only wide enough for someone to walk through, putting them in such close quarters that Ochako wondered if she ought to have chosen a different cot. That, in combination with his offer made her cheeks warm and she thanked the darkness for concealing it.

"Y-you don't have to do that, Deku. But...I guess it can't be helped. I could use a lookout."

He turned a bit sheepish. "Sorry, I didn't mean to invite myself. I thought it'd just be safer."

"No, it's okay. You're right. I really appreciate it."

Ochako laid down, slipping her feet under the covers. This wasn't the first time she had gone to sleep in something other than pajamas because of work, and it always came with its own discomforts. This time it was knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep in her own bed indefinitely, not until Pyromancer was caught. However, Izuku offered her some relief. She delighted in knowing him well enough to anticipate him staying with her for a few more days to ensure she was settled in. Despite the fact that Pyromancer had ruined their outing, he couldn't take away all of the joy that was had before he revealed himself. Even now, Ochako couldn't stay scared and miserable as long as Izuku was smiling at her like that.

"It's no problem," he said in a soft voice. He slipped under his own covers and yanked on the chain to his lamp. The light went out. "I'm just sorry dinner went from nice ramen to break-room pizza."

Ochako snorted as she held in a giggle. "It's not your fault! Maybe we'll try again when this is all over."

"Yeah! I'd like that."

She could hear him fight with the blanket to cover himself and get comfortable. After a few minutes, she heard him turn over again. Even though she felt emotionally exhausted, sleep hadn't found her yet. Thoughts about what had transpired today kept her up as they snaked their way in and out of her consciousness. She tossed and turned. A few more minutes passed and then a few more and a few more.

There were all kinds of villains. There were those that committed crimes out of greed or lust, stealing, conniving, even killing over some sort of transaction. Money and sex drove them. Those were the easy ones. Villains out to get what was theirs. Ochako could understand them on some level although their methods were abhorrent. Desperation, jealousy, and selfishness were present in every human soul; it was action that divided a villain from the masses. Yes, she could follow their logic and their regret. It was the villains with an agenda she couldn't stand. The ones that spoke to her as if she'd come around and agree that it was okay to kill over some flawed philosophy. She tossed and turned again. Pyromancer made her so angry. He had really tried to convince her it was okay for him kill people. To kill her.

"You still awake?" came Izuku's voice out of the darkness. Had she been keeping him up?

Ochako sighed. "Yeah, I just...keep thinking about what Pyromancer said."

There was a moment of silence. She heard him turn over and suddenly his voice sounded closer. "Do you think he had a point?"

"No. No. I just..." Ochako paused, trying to find the words, the exact reason as to why this villain's statements evoked such a frustrated sort of helplessness in her. "The things he said about considering who we save. It's not a new concept. It just reminds me that no one really understands what we're doing out there. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah. I was thinking that too."

"And...I don't know...does it make you angry? Pyromancer isn't the only one disappointed in the fact that we save everyone, including villains. I just wish people understood that, as first responders, our job is to bring people back alive. That's it. It isn't our place to judge the people we save. Not everyone we save is going to be a saint. It makes no difference, though."

"It can be a little frustrating sometimes," Izuku said softly, his voice calming Ochako's nerves. "But, I can't be too upset by it. I mean, even we saw the world that way back in high school. And, well, we'd probably still think of it that way now if we weren't heroes."

"I know. You're right." Ochako sighed, her frustration leaving her. She exhaled loudly. "Sorry. I don't mean to rant at this hour. Not with everything that's happened today."

Izuku chuckled. "Don't worry about it. It's always back and forth with us, you know? Wasn't I unloading my frustrations to you just a few hours ago?"

Wasn't that a revelation.

"It really is like that, huh?" Ochako softened, letting that irony sink in. Since they'd met it had been like that - a constant battery of certain death trials that they always managed to pull the other through, always the other's hero. "I suppose that means it's my turn next."

"I'll try to stay out of trouble."

Ochako giggled. "I'll be on standby."

The police department wouldn't return to normalcy any time soon. With an accurate depiction of Pyromancer from two seasoned heroes, the force refused to rest until he was caught. The bomb squad was called to every building on Echo's list. They swept through every floor with a fine-tooth comb to remove every one of Pyromancer's bombs placed in strategic, out-of-sight spaces within walls and basements. As it turned out, the curious devices were heat sensitive, made to go off upon reaching a certain temperature that the department had to guess Pyromancer could control. Although his operation was messy, he was clearly very knowledgeable.

"He'd have to know the important temperatures of common materials...the temperature in which things combust, or melt, is probably something he studied to ensure he doesn't waste his energy," Uravity overheard Deku say to Detective Tsukauchi upon leaving one morning.

They fully understood Pyromancer now. His quirk, his motive, his operation, even what he looked like; he was no longer a dangerous enigma. Or so they thought. Over the next few days, that information spread like wildfire as news stations urged anyone with information to come forward. The entire city seemed to be focused in on catching him, as neighboring hero agencies, police and fire departments, even airports and other mass transit were on the look out. Despite all of this effort, though, Pyromancer disappeared once again. No one saw him. No one knew him. He was a nameless poltergeist that had brought down four massive buildings in fire and brimstone and not a soul witnessed him. It appeared as though only four people on the entire planet had ever seen or spoken to Pyromancer and lived to tell the tale. And all four of them were harassed for even a sliver of new information.

Necromancer never divulged much more, and Echo swore up and down he had given them everything he possibly could. Pyromancer had no real name he could give up, no more buildings, no more targets. That left Izuku and Ochako to run through that fateful evening over and over again, just in case they missed something. Ochako understood that with each passing day, the police became more and more frustrated, more desperate for another break-through. She could feel every detail scraped from her memory and slapped onto documentation. At some point, she came up empty. There was nothing more to say about Pyromancer.

And just like that, a month passed by.

Pyromancer no longer made the headlines. Slowly but surely, the city cleaned up the most recent mess and society forgot about him, distracted with other nonsense. After all, Pyromancer wasn't the only villain roaming the streets. Uravity fell back into a mundane routine, walking her route, training Krow, and answering calls. When out on patrol, she found herself almost forgetting all about the dangerous foreigner who wanted her dead. Today continued that trend.

"How many copies you guys take out?" Uravity cried across the jewelry store. Glass littered the floor and she held a teenager with messy red hair in a choke hold until he disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

The store was filling to capacity with people that all looking the same as this teenager and they all laughed in unison. His quirk reminded Uravity of Twice but with a twist; each copy was simply a younger version of himself, all the way down to an infant he had used to distract the jeweler's employees. Now the real, fully adult version was hiding somewhere in the sea of copies. The villain had no trouble admitting his quirk allowed him to make a copy of himself in the likeness of every year of his life. A daunting task, considering they had no idea how old the man behind the dittos was. Each successful punch, kick, or throw went up in smoke as copies popped out of existence.

"Four," Flashlight called from his personal blockade at the front door.

"Has to be five," Current shouted from the opposite wall as he zapped a copy with his signature red electricity. "Ugh, it feels so weird to punch kids in the face!"

"Yeah? Well, I kicked the baby!" Krow laughed loudly from overhead as he landed on the skinny shoulders of what had to be the ten-year-old version of the villain. He popped and white smoke surrounded Krow as he went to engage a villain copy around his own age.

Flashlight groaned loudly as he blinded one copy with a bright palm before switching to a fist to knock the copy's lights out. "Chaos, thy name is Krow."

"Ya goddamn right!"

In the meantime, Uravity grappled with two fully grown versions of the villain as she rolled her eyes. One came at her, ready to tackle her to the ground with a sloppy lunge. Ever since her training with Gunhead, attacks like these almost made her laugh. She slipped out of range, grabbed the villain by the back of his neck as if he were a tiny kitten, then used his momentum to spin around and throw him right back at his companion. They both fell over each other onto the carpeted floor.

Subsequent classes with her old mentor in recent years had only made her fighting skills better. If she wasn't known for her quirk, she was known for throwing men twice her size into the pavement underneath her. The moves had earned her a ton of respect in female hero circles, but it also attracted some weird and creepy fans, like the one that rushed to her aid now.

Current stomped his huge red boot onto the pair of villains and both popped into a large smoke cloud. The electric-based sidekick beamed at her, his ogre-like teeth just part of the charm.

When the jewelry store alarm had gone off, Uravity and Krow were first on the scene and Current, being on the same route, had rushed in to help, with Flashlight not too far behind. It was fortunate to have such a large team ready on short notice to take down a villain who was his own personal army. However, Uravity felt that maybe it would have been okay with just three members if it meant she'd be spared from Current's babysitting.

"Thanks, but I had it under control," Uravity said as she wiped sweat from her cheek. Despite the store's air conditioning, fighting was still a work out.

"That's okay. I finished them off for you!" Current blurted happily. He then punched and popped another copy as it ran to attack him from the side. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "After this we could grab a bite to eat. It's a real shame that Pyro bastard destroyed the ramen shop I was gonna take you to, though"

Really. In the middle of a scuffle. The things that came out of his mouth never ceased to surprise her, but before she could say anything, Krow took the opportunity for a jab. "You think it's a shame? I think it's ironic."

Flashlight scolded Krow from the door. "It's not funny, Krow! Uravity could have been hurt! Off duty no less!"

"I didn't mean ironic as in funny, haha, ironic. I meant it like...literary irony. Symbolic. All that jazz," Krow clarified as he hovered.

"Never pinned you for a lit kinda guy."

Krow muffled a snort. "Oh, I'm lit, my guy."

"You went without me?" Current whined, whipping his head around to face a startled Uravity. The villain's younger copies had stopped running around to listen to the ensuing conversations, but the older copies attempted to attack each hero, only to be met with a fist or a foot to the face, save for Current's unlucky attacker. The red-clad hero was so upset, he grabbed the teenage villain and threw him across the store into another teenage copy, causing them both to pop from the impact.

"Dude, have you ever considered that she's just not that into you?" Krow consoled the giant man with a smirk on his face.

"No."

"Maybe you should!"

Uravity massaged her temples as the boys argued while popping villain copies. She murmured to herself, "I'm surrounded by idiots."

As the light banter went on, Uravity heard a door open next to her. The oldest-looking of the villain copies appeared, his brow furrowed and teeth clenched in rage. He shouted over the commotion. "Hey, you B-sides! Maybe you should pay attention to my copies over your stupid conversations!"

Everyone turned to face him with a blank stare, including his own copies. Uravity took no time to get in front of him and hit him with a bullet punch to the throat. As he doubled over clutching his neck, she delivered a final blow to his temple, knocking him out cold on the floor. Each one of the remaining copies popped into a cloud of smoke, leaving this final copy the original. She sighed loudly, thankful this fight was over. Flashlight opened the door behind him, the hinges squeaking as he motioned for the police to come in and retrieve the villain.

As the police officers collected the red-haired villain in handcuffs, Uravity felt her phone vibrate in her fanny pack against her thigh. She checked it and seeing Deku's name pop up with a message felt like a reprieve from the prior conversation.

"Is it Deku?" cried Krow from across the room where he had landed and joined Flashlight with an officer. Uravity guessed he'd be excited if Deku needed to see them. Krow hadn't been too involved with anything concerning Pyromancer in the last few weeks, namely because the trail had gone cold and there wasn't much more to do than wait for the day the criminal decided show himself again. This could be that day.

"Yes," Uravity answered absentmindedly as she opened the message.

The boys continued to chatter.

"Who the heck is Deku?" Current cried.

Flashlight shook his head. "You really gotta pay attention more."

Krow guffawed as he high-fived Flashlight. "Stole my line, my guy."

Uravity ignored them, although she was glad to see Krow and Flashlight getting close as buddies over the past month. The message was short, as Deku's texts often were:

-Deku: _Please come back to office when done on call_

Another message popped up.

-Deku: _Bring Krow_

Uravity and Krow parted with Flashlight, letting him know they needed to return to the office. He'd need to cover their area for the rest of the day.

"Should we fly back?" Krow offered. Over the past month, he and Uravity had become more in sync with each other, their quirks a great combination for fast-travel. If Uravity removed gravity's pull on both of them, Krow could carry her to any destination in minutes without tiring out. Better yet, he could still steer himself, although the increase in speed was something he needed to get used to. All in all, though, besides his snarky, crass attitude, Uravity enjoyed working with Krow. He was truly cut out for this type of work.

"No, no, he didn't say it was too urgent," she answered.

It was now August, and Uravity couldn't remember the last time it rained. The heat was still unbearable, and for that, she wondered when Pyromancer would take advantage of it again. There hadn't been a peep from him or about him in so long, she would have wondered if he were actually real had she not seen him with her own two eyes. Today, there would be an update. As much as she wished it weren't so, the only time she saw Deku was when it had to do with Pyromancer or for a brief moment before leaving the police station in the mornings. Any other time, she was missing him.

As Uravity and Krow stepped through the front doors to the Ryukyu offices, they could see the main atrium was filled with people, all of whom Uravity knew.

"Ah, shit, did I miss your birthday?" Krow asked as he leaned over to her. Uravity gave him an unamused glance.

"Young man, that language is very unbecoming of a graduating UA student!" Iida's voice bellowed from his Ingenium suit, his robotic movements giving him away. Uravity just laughed as Krow stood dumbfounded.

Looking ahead, Uravity took in the crowd surrounding one of the desks. She felt like she was back at Momo's house party, but she had to remember this was still a meeting of heroes. She needed to remain professional and show Krow the proper way to address fellow heroes, even when he knows them personally.

"Uraraka, you should be doing more to curb his bad language!" Iida scolded her. Never mind. Even though everyone was in their hero get-ups, they'd always be Class A. Krow snapped out of his surprised daze.

"Yeah, Uraraka, watch my freakin' language," the black angel said between laughs as he walked past Iida to join Izuku.

"Man, I like this kid already," Bakugo announced from his seat on a neighboring desk. Like the rest of the crowd, he was dressed in his hero costume which hadn't changed much since their high school days. Like Deku, he was climbing the hero lists, and quickly becoming a fan favorite despite his repulsive demeanor. There was just something about him that got on people's nerves the right way, making "GroundZero" not only an appropriate hero name, but a household name all the same.

"You know, it's just how he is," Ochako shrugged. After a full month and more of being Krow's direct supervisor, she had learned there were some things she just couldn't unteach him. His crass behavior and language were things he'd never lose, but seeing as the same hadn't slowed Bakugo down, she figured he wasn't in any danger of not becoming a successful hero.

"Sorry, sorry," Krow held up his hands. "I'll try to reel it in. I'm super stoked to meet all of you! I, uh, see all of you on TV all the time. The name's Krow."

"Hey, man, no worries! Don't start feeling' like a stranger just because of Iida!" Kirishima smirked from beside Bakugo, dressed as Red Riot. "You know? It hasn't been that long since we were in your shoes! We can be informal. Right, Midoriya?"

"Sure," Izuku nodded as he drew his gaze from the paper on the central desk to Kirishima. "Call this a preliminary meeting. At least I hope it is."

Ochako looked around the room. Besides the aforementioned, she spotted Tetsutetsu, as Real Steel, next to Kirishima and Todoroki, still going by Shouto as a hero name these days, staring down at the files on the central desk. This was all that was available and in the area, Ochako thought glumly, and even some had come beyond their districts to be here. This had to be big.

"Does this have to do with Pyromancer?" Krow stole the words right out of her mouth.

Izuku nodded. "It does. The police have successfully removed all of the bombs planted in the buildings Echo gave us, so, now we're trying to figure out which buildings Pyromancer may attack next. We may have one."

"What are the specs?" Ochako asked, looking down at the papers in front of Izuku. Building plans and official statements, as well as a larger notebook with Izuku's characteristic scribbles and drawings lay sprawled out on the desk in an elegant mess. Izuku pulled out a schematic of the building in question.

"It's a twenty-story office building. It's a pretty high-end establishment that sits in its own plaza. The plaza and the building have gone through renovations; their big grand openings are this Saturday," Izuku explained. "This building was originally on Pyromancer's hit list that we got from Echo."

"But, if the police have already removed the groundwork like Echo said...it wouldn't be a surprise," Ochako argued.

The building was very unlike the other buildings Pyromancer felled, and it's uniqueness struck a chord in Ochako. Its placement on Echo's list was also peculiar, and she tried to summon the memory of it listed right next to Ryukyu's office a month ago.

"So, you're saying he may not even hit it?" Todoroki chimed in.

Izuku had already thought of this, though. "You're right. It wouldn't be a surprise. That could be exactly why he'd strike it."

"We were already talking about it before you got here, Round Face," Bakugo explained in his usual, unamused rasp. "This grand opening will be important. They've erected a memorial in the plaza for heroes who have lost their lives in the line of duty, for All Might, and other very special international heroes. There's gonna be a shit ton of people there, even if no one's working in the office."

"Which they might, so all of the firms and the landlords have been notified to at least keep the building empty," Tetsutetsu added.

Bakugo got riled up. "What I wanna know is...why not just call the whole damn thing off? Can't the police do that? Why is this so complicated?"

"You know that didn't work, man," Kirishima answered gently.

Izuku sighed, his shoulders falling. "They've already held off a bit, but it'll be indefinite with the way things are going with Pyromancer. The contractor and main landlord want to get on with it and we can't exactly hold them hostage on their own property."

"Sounds stupid to me."

"Well..."

Krow had been sitting silently, absorbing all of this information in a more serious manner than he had all month. "It's in our district, isn't it?" He addressed the whole room, but his cool, black eyes met Ochako's intensely.

It wasn't that Pyromancer would hit the building just because there would be a bunch of people there. No, on a Saturday, there were plenty of unsuspecting buildings he could bring down. Izuku and Ochako had already suspected that Echo and Necromancer were caught on purpose, a plan set in motion when Pyromancer ordered Echo to kill Uravity on his own, something Pyromancer knew couldn't be done. It was obvious Echo wasn't a fan of Pyromancer, and once caught, could be trusted to spill the beans on all of their planned demolition projects. Unbeknownst to Echo, he and his brother would continue to work for Pyromancer whether they knew it or not by confirming the police's suspicions about the villain and funneling them into dead end theories or overwhelming them with the truth. This helped to muddle the barrier between what was real and what was a hoax. Izuku had run it by her weeks ago, and he had no doubt this elaborate scheme was the truth.

No matter the outcome to any of the steps in the process, Pyromancer remained ahead, his sick, twisted plans moving steadily along with no hiccups.

Izuku answered, "Yes."

Echo would tell them this building was on the list, but its uniqueness in this list would remain hidden among other seemingly random targets. It would have remained that way without the next piece of information – Pyromancer was targeting Uravity, another clue divulged by Echo. And so, any other strike on the list would be random. All but this one, with a grand opening setting the date and time for the destruction in stone. In her district. It was obvious, then, that this was a special invitation, delivered to Uravity within the memory of a bat. Tearing down a memorial to heroes was right up Pyromancer's alley. It was too good for the police to ignore. But Pyromancer was a practiced man. The building and the plaza were bait, and, although destroying them would be fulfilling on their own, he would be counting on the fact that Uravity would have to be there, whether she saw the trap for what it was or not. Given the opportunity to prepare like this, on a Thursday afternoon with her closest hero friends, probably didn't phase Pyromancer in the slightest.

She was trapped, even if Echo hadn't spoken. The fact that he did, and Pyromancer could guarantee that he would, was just an incredibly elaborate way to psyche his query out and instill fear. He was forcing the odds of the inevitable fight into his favor.

Ochako exhaled in frustration. It appeared to her comrades that she would be willingly walking into a trap. Ochako knew better. She had already been ensnared the minute she answered the first downed building months ago and put herself on Pyromancer's radar. What else could she do? Her heroic duty dictated her moves and broadcast them to potential opponents, like a chess player that relied on the same strategy in every game. She had to be there. If she didn't, this game would never end.

"I see. Then I have no doubts he'll show up," Ochako said in a downtrodden voice. That was the truth, and she gave a weak smile to Krow, who still watched her carefully. The hypothesis Izuku had come up with had been relayed to Krow, as an official member of the case squad, and he probably came to the same conclusions about what was going on as Ochako had.

Bakugo scoffed. "Okay, great. The guy will probably show up, knock down the building, make a huge ass mess. So, what's the battle plan?"

"Well, first," Izuku became tense and shaky, stiffly bringing his fingertips together in front of him. "We'll be requesting you not get involved in the battle at all."

Bakugo blew a fuse. "What? What do you mean I'm off the team? I've already been assigned to that security detail, dammit!"

Izuku put up his hands defensively as Kirishima held Bakugo back.

"You'll still be on the security detail, man!" Kirishima struggled. "Right?"

"Right, I just can't allow you to fight Pyromancer," Izuku answered nervously, backing away from the flailing Bakugo. "You'll have to work rescue if anything happens!"

"That's bullshit, Deku!"

"Please watch your language! We're supposed to be professional, especially in front of an underclassman as recent graduates of UA and as pro-heroes in the making!" Iida rushed in, chopping the air.

The explosive hero grit his teeth, but stopped struggling against Kirishima. "Put a sock in it, Four Eyes! That job was important to my agency and to my record! God dammit!"

Ochako squeezed between them. "Bakugo, Deku's right. I'm sure he already told you all about Pyromancer's quirk. It's dependent on outside heat. He can absorb and move it around. He'd probably just use your quirk against us, or worse, ignite your sweat before you do. It's too dangerous!"

"It's still crap, Round Face, no matter how you spin it," Bakugo growled, backing down even more before another person could tell him he was wrong.

"You're not the only one left out, Kacchan," Deku tried to assuage his rival even more. "I didn't call anyone who's quirk gives off substantial heat. No Aoyama, no Kaminari, of the ones even close by enough to respond. The police have also informed Endeavor and other fire and heat users to stay away."

"So why's the Half and Half Bastard here?"

"Yes, why am I here, then?" Todoroki didn't bat an eyelash, but instead turned to Izuku with intrigue.

The green hero nodded. "Well, we could really use your ice. Pyromancer relies on the heat around him to use his quirk, so if you can build enough ice to cool the air around him, Iida could help get Uraraka in close fast and disorient him with her quirk. Then it's just a matter of holding out with your ice while we knock him out or apprehend him. We could come in from all angles..."

"Sounds too easy," Tetsutetsu chimed in, holding his chin. "I'm all for pummeling the guy, but..."

As he trailed off, Todoroki interjected, "Without using my fire at all, I'm on a serious time constraint, too, Midoriya."

"I know. The fact of the matter is...I don't understand his quirk all the way, still, and I probably won't until day-of," Izuku admitted. He tried to look everyone in the eye as he continued, but ended up locking onto the papers on the desk. "I don't know if he can sap heat from living bodies, I don't know how he seems to not need to see his targets to ignite them, and I certainly don't know how he will bring down the building and in what arrangement. No matter what hero shows up, he'll be the one setting up the battlefield and, so, I need a simple enough plan to be flexible..."

Everyone seemed to understand as Izuku stood frustrated, trying not to mutter. "I have another plan in place if this doesn't work, but, it's not as foolproof, or safe, so I'd rather not consider it unless all else fails."

"No worries, man," Kirishima consoled his friend with a grip to his shoulder. "If this Pyromancer guy is gonna try to use the building debris to hurt people or form his own arena, maybe me and Tetsu over here could change the trajectory of the fall and mess that up for him!"

"Yeah, or at least hold it up so people can escape!" Tetsutetsu suggested with a wide, toothy grin.

"That'd be manly as hell!"

Iida had to make a comment. "Are you two out of your minds? This is a twenty-story skyscraper we're talking about!"

"No worries, man, Tetsu and I are basically immune to blunt force trauma," Kirishima reminded him.

"Exactly...especially this guy in his Unbreakable form!" Tetsutetsu added, grabbing Kirishima around the shoulders.

"It's extremely reckless, but I suppose the entire operation is a risk, and one we have to take," Iida sighed. "I'm in. I accept my role."

He saluted Izuku.

"As am I," Todoroki nodded.

"Me too!" Ochako beamed, raising her fist into the air. Krow nodded. He didn't have a choice, but this was something he wouldn't want to miss anyway.

Bakugo rolled his eyes and slid off his desk towards the front doors. "Whatever. I'll head up rescue. I'll make a few calls, see if I can get more help if you're all going to be at the battlefront."

"Thank you, Kacchan. I knew I could count on you," Izuku called as the other heroes gathered their things.

"Yeah, whatever, nerd."

With the meeting adjourned, Ochako followed her friends to the door. She hadn't been to her own apartment in over a month, but this felt oddly like she was closing out a house party.

"Thanks for all your help, guys," she said as they reached the first set of doors to the vestibule. "We're still not a hundred percent about Pyromancer appearing, but..."

"Not to worry, Uraraka," Iida said as he walked beside her.

Kirishima added, "Yeah, if he decides he can't take all of us and runs away and all we did was a security detail, well, it wouldn't be so bad!"

Ochako smiled. "You're right. I guess I'll see you on Saturday, then!"

Kirishima, Tetsutetsu, and Todoroki bid her farewell and walked out of the offices, leaving Iida behind. He turned to Ochako, and although she couldn't see his face behind his helmet, she could feel his excitement. He wasn't wrong; this fight, if it happened, was going to be risky. Nevertheless, there had been an unmistakable air of brotherhood around that desk.

"It'll be good to be working side-by-side again," Iida said, "It's been too long. It's one thing to see each other off duty, but it's another thing entirely to work closely as comrades!"

"Yeah, I know what you mean!" Ochako answered with a sweet smile and nod. She was feeling confident. This could work. This nightmare could end.

"I also can't wait to see Krow in action. I'm sure you have been a great mentor to him!"

Ochako smirked. "Oh, so, you were just busting my chops before?"

Iida stiffened. "Not at all! That was not my intention, Uraraka! We can always improve! I merely meant to bring it to his attention more so than to yours. I apologize if I seemed to doubt your ability to teach!"

Ochako giggled and shrugged. "It's fine! It's fine! He's going to be a great hero one day. He's picked it up really fast."

"That's good to hear. Then I have no doubt he will be useful during our meeting with Pyromancer. See you then!" With that, Iida took his leave.

Speaking about Krow, Ochako looked around. He and Izuku hadn't followed the rest of the group out and, instead, she witnessed the tail end of a private conversation between them. Izuku collected his notes and documents from the desk top and stuffed them into a messenger bag.

"I'm heading out," Izuku announced as she approached, swinging the bag strap over his head. "I'm probably going to stay at the station tonight so that I can work out the logistics a bit more."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later, then."

Ochako watched him leave and then turned to Krow who was leaning up against a desk, his arms crossed.

"What?"

"Nothin'," he shrugged. "Just spacin' out. We had a pretty long day today."

Ochako sighed and nodded. "We sure did. You can go home now, if you want. I'll stick around until Nejire or Flashlight get back."

"Sounds good."

Krow kicked off from the desk and began walking towards the locker rooms. Ochako had to guess he was just tired and had no more strength to needle her about staying at the police station with Izuku. It struck her then that Krow hadn't really said anything about the crush since that first day at the police station. She was relieved, although much of it probably had to do with the fact that Krow hadn't seen much of Deku lately.

"Were you guys catching up before?" she asked, the contents of their conversation itching her curiosity.

"Oh, yeah, just shootin' the shit," Krow answered. "We got to talking about flying. He was really curious about how high I could go."

"And what's that?"

"Pretty damn high," he said smirking, nodding to each syllable.

"In meters, genius," she giggled.

"Pfft, I don't know it in meters," Krow whined as he rolled his eyes. "High enough to get ice in my feathers. How's that?"

Ochako was taken aback by that. She'd have to look it up, but that had to be over a thousand meters in the air, wasn't it? "What? Really? Why did you fly so high for? Can your quirk even work up there?"

Height hadn't seemed to be important for his quirk, at least not as important as distance and weight capacity. She expected him to answer with a snarky "because I could", but that wasn't what happened. A thought seemed to stop him and he paused, his smirk running from his face. "Eh...no good reason."

They stood staring in silence. Somehow their laid back friendship had become awkward and Ochako felt that perhaps her question was more prying than she originally thought. He looked down at the floor, then back at her.

"Actually...maybe I'll tell you why," he started solemnly, but then jumped right back to his characteristic upbeat demeanor. "But not right now, I'm starving and gotta find some crap to eat, pronto."

He disappeared into the locker room, leaving Ochako bewildered. He'd been mysterious before, but now she knew for certain there was an entire layer to Krow she'd never been acquainted with. When he emerged from the locker room he was just Asuka Dakuro, your average, everyday teenager with huge, black, bird wings. He waved her goodbye in the way he always did, as if he hadn't just been painfully cryptic a few minutes prior. Ochako couldn't bring herself to pry, though. She waved back as she sat at the front desk.

Flashlight was the last member of the Ryukyu team to make it back to the office, after having adopted the rest of Uravity's patrol. A late evening pep-talk and shared pizza later, and Ochako was finally going to her makeshift home in the police station basement. Lots of people had reached out to her over the last month, offering up their warm couches or spare bedrooms, but she refused them all. She didn't want anyone else to become ensnared in the same trap she was in. This was the first, but certainly not the last time she'd be a villain's target. It was part of the job. She had made so many greater sacrifices for her work, this was nothing. She could spend a month or two on a cot; it didn't bother her one bit.

What did bother her was Izuku's conversation with Krow. Why the sudden interest in height? He was clearly trying to formulate another plan should the first one go south, but, reaching those heights was one hundred percent crazy. None of that seemed to occur to Krow, though, so perhaps it had just come up in conversation. She let it go.

Over the next day, Ochako assumed she'd see Izuku and speak with him, even if briefly, about his plans, but he was no where to be found. If he had come down to the basement to get just a little shut-eye, it had been after she drifted to sleep and he had awoken before her alarm in the morning. It was hard to tell if he had slept in his cot across from hers, since he always left it a mess. She had no reason to waste time and find him now, not when she needed to get to the Ryukyu offices to pick up Krow for the daily grind, filling out paperwork about yesterday's villain attack, and patrolling the area again.

With every hour that ticked by, Ochako felt her agita build and caught herself wishing it was over already. She wanted nothing more than to talk to Izuku, even if it wasn't about the impending fight they both knew was coming. Choking that desperation down, along with her pesky feelings, and other useless baggage, she laid down in her cot and shut her eyes. She had no right to fly up to the eighth floor and take him away from his work. Not for something as pointless as worry. Not for her.

The familiar uneasiness had seeped into her psyche again, the same halting stress that had always stopped her from calling him when he had been away the last two years. He was busy. She was busy. They both had jobs to do, and it didn't allow for any of this neediness. She had made a final resolution long ago that Ochako would sacrifice a potential future with Izuku for Uravity's sure success. That had been her decision. For the greater good. For her and for her family. Yet, despite all this finality, she remained ablaze with longing for him and did little to douse it. She cursed at herself for letting it become an inferno over this past month, but she still believed she could put it out anytime. And she could. She had. When he was gone, the burning had just stopped one day. He disappeared. And she didn't look for him anymore.

Then, when the difference between opportunity and love presented itself after so many failed attempts to forget the latter, things got difficult again. Her heart hadn't forgotten, and it refused to. But now, as always, it was getting in the way of her work and her bright future. How could she be an effective hero like this? She still had so far to go. Things were the same now as they had been in high school. Krow and this case had to be her focus now, so love had to be put on the back burner. Maybe one day she'd be strong enough to take it off the stove completely.

As the main security squad broke up after review to patrol the plaza that Saturday afternoon, Uravity broke away, pulling Krow with her. She wouldn't let Ochako's personal issues interfere with apprehending Pyromancer, and so she stuffed them down as she had at her licensing exam, and marched on.


	7. Burn Out

Burn Out

The crowd was building at the edge of the plaza, just in front of the glass face of the office skyscraper. District officials were huddled at the top of the concrete stairs waiting to address the people. The chatter filled the air along with the familiar sound of traffic and Uravity found herself opposite the commotion in the back gardens. The contractors had done such a beautiful job, she thought to herself. She could remember what the area had looked like from an earlier patrol route – cracked, out-of-date, and bare. Now, there were summer flowers in full bloom densely packed into opulent flower boxes and monuments erected in the names of heroes long gone. It almost felt like a pleasant cemetery, surrounded in a labyrinth of green and cobblestone. Despite being in the middle of a city, it was quiet here. The voices of the crowd were hushed through the topiaries.

"So...why'd we run off like that?" Krow's voice penetrated Uravity's calm as he caught up with her on foot. "It looked like Deku needed to tell you something!"

"We didn't run," Uravity corrected him, ignoring the second part.

He gave her a look. "You know what I mean."

"We're in a pair, we are where we need to be, everything is going according to plan."

She knew she was being absent as she stepped away from him as he sighed in frustration. Her hands had found each other in front of her waist and she looked away, doing her best to be on high alert. A lot of things were riding on today – her promotion, her life, her sanity. Pyromancer would show and she would capture him. That's how it had to go, but the more she considered it, the more absurd it sounded. This was her fight, and yet it seemed impossible. She had been working since day one to be an independent hero, an independent person, but that seemed to all be falling apart at once. She didn't want to need anyone, but here she was, unable to finish a task assigned to her. Unable to go on alone as intended.

She fiddled with the panic button she had been given that morning. It wouldn't allow for fluid communication between the teams, but it could notify everyone once Pyromancer was spotted. In case Pyromancer noticed it, it was at least something he could destroy without taking an ear with it. The damn thing only drove it home that Uravity was at a disadvantage. That she couldn't do this on her own and all those years of training amounted to naught.

Krow lingered behind her, and she could feel his concern burning a hole through her back. He sniffed the air and shrugged. "You all right over there? You seem to be going through some shit again."

"It's fine, Krow. I'm fine," she lied.

Krow put himself in front of her. "No, you're not. Let's hash it out before the big boy gets here."

"There's nothing to hash out," Uravity denied as she walked past him. What would talking do anyway?

"Now you're just being extra. C'mon! I know you're taking me for a ride here," Krow pleaded.

She kept walking as he skipped along. "Keeping things from your partner isn't cool."

Uravity stopped and turned around to give him a playfully exasperated look. "Oh, I'm sure you'd know all about that."

Krow cracked a grin and laughed. "Oof. Oof! You got me there! Maybe when you're truthful with me, I'll return the favor."

"Sounds good. Not now, though. This is no time for stories," Uravity started walking again, down a path through the maze.

The crowd erupted into cheers and whistles and a voice could be heard droning over a microphone. The ceremony was starting and Uravity could feel the pit in her stomach sink further. This was so irresponsible of the owner. She grit her teeth. Whether she was there or not, Pyromancer was bringing this building down today, or some day. Attracting all these people here was stupid, at best. But she guessed that they just couldn't live in fear. The ceremony would go on. Life would go on. Still, she was nervous. A fight was coming.

Krow didn't notice her dread, his back facing her. He was looking around, but still engrossed in their conversation.

"What? So, there _is_ something you're hiding! Look, if it's Deku, I don't think you have anything to...worry about," his voice faded as he became increasingly distracted.

Uravity turned to him. "Huh?"

Krow turned around on himself, as if an invisible presence were leading him around by the nose closer to the building. He spoke under his breath as if he were desperately trying to figure out where the sensation was leading him. Stretching his wings, he jumped into the air and flew up to the glass doors of the building at the top of a set of concrete stairs. Like the rest of the building, the doors were glass and adorned with brilliantly polished brass shaped in modern, rectangular designs. This design also served as push handles, a place to lock the doors to each other. From the bottom of the stairs, they looked perfectly shut. Nevertheless, Uravity did not doubt her intern, and floated herself to his side.

"What's going on?"

"Were there supposed to be people in the building? I thought RealSteel said they'd clear it," Krow said seriously, referencing what Tetsutetsu had said Thursday night. His black eyes were burning with dread.

Uravity tripped over her words and the pit sank deeper. "N-no! No, civilians, anyway. They assigned security guards, though, but they should be on the ground floor in case anything happens."

"Don't security guards lock the doors behind them, though?" Krow asked as he pointed to the doors that were slightly ajar to each other. It hadn't been noticeable from the bottom of the stairs, and could have been easily overlooked during the perimeter check the police had done that morning. There was no telling how long it had been open.

She followed his pointing up to the push handle. Upon closer inspection, the polished brass surrounded an old, faded brass key lock. Clunky and protruding from the flat surface of the door, it was obviously out of place. To drive the point home, Krow pushed the door open with just a finger, causing the out-of-place lock to fall from the door, hitting the granite with a metallic echoing that bounced off the new office lobby walls. The hole in the door it had been sitting in was partially melted.

"How did you notice that?" Uravity asked. She didn't know if she was proud, astounded, or even more fearful now at this revelation that Pyromancer could very well already be in the building.

Krow shrugged. "I...can do anything a crow can?"

"Are you seriously telling me you're attracted to shiny things?"

"Don't patronize me, woman! I'm also smelling death. Inside the building."

Krow crept forward, pushing the door open just a bit more, but Uravity stopped him. She grabbed his coat collar and yanked him back outside and away from the doors. Something wasn't right and the icky feeling she had felt that night at the ramen restaurant returned, setting off alarm bells in her head. Krow didn't protest and instead, turned sheepish for attempting to walk straight into a trap.

"Very perceptive," came the guttural voice from just behind a hallway wall. The foreign nuance in that voice was unmistakable.

Pyromancer revealed himself. He wasn't all that different from the last time she had seen him; his hulking form filled the hallway space, in a well-worn brown jacket over jeans and a black shirt. He had kept the sleeves of the coat rolled up and his white, unkempt hair was kept out of his eyes by his signature pair of welding goggles. The only difference now was his preparedness. Both hands were equipped with two giant brass gauntlets, one of which was clutching the uniform collar of a security guard. The body looked as if it had been dead many hours already, gray skin and mouth hung open.

Uravity tensed up and squeezed the panic button in her hand. It made no noise, but Pyromancer noticed it. Pointing at it, he shot it out of her hand with an invisible beam of heat with a noticeable pop. Uravity stifled a scream and got a hold of herself. Pyromancer didn't acknowledge it at all after that, even as Uravity glared at him. The villain gave an interested nod towards Krow.

"Nice bird. When I saw you all fight my two idiot roadies, I had a hunch his quirk had something to do with death. Just by the way the zombies made him ill," Pyromancer said. "But he couldn't smell them in the basement...underground. I guess everyone has limitations, right?"

"Don't try guessing my quirk, bro," Krow muttered with a smirk. "I was thinking it was something else."

"And you just guessed bringing one body up from the basement would lure us in?" Uravity grit her teeth. Did the panic button work? The windows at the opposite side of the building didn't reveal much, but she was hoping the other heroes had gotten the signal and were escorting people away from the plaza as they kept the murderer talking.

Pyromancer dumped the body of the security guard onto the polished marble floor, his huge shoulders bouncing as he chuckled. "Of course! You're heroes! You have to come check it out. You have to investigate, like a bunch of dumbass teenagers in a horror film."

Uravity sensed Krow nod in agreement, his hands on his hips as he stifled a laugh. He had caught on to the distraction. "You got us there. I mean, you're not wrong!"

Pyromancer guffawed, throwing his head back. "It's going to be a damn shame to kill you, bird-boy. Tell ya what? Fly on out of here and let me do my work."

"Not a chance, Pops!" Krow said with a grin. The angel of death wasn't afraid of his own dominion. Krow's playful, ambitious smirk mirrored Pyromancer's sinister one.

"Suit yourself. I'm done talking," Pyromancer said, getting deathly serious, having quickly caught on to their little charade.

He lifted the gauntlets up, summoning the mid-August heat to him like the fire-based spell-caster Necromancer had named him after. The temperature around them dropped like a ton of bricks. Uravity took no time to press all five fingers of her right hand to herself and grabbed onto Krow. Like a well-oiled machine, the duo took off into the air.

Uravity held onto Krow's shoulders has he rocketed up into the air, losing feathers on the way. They watched as Pyromancer's heat melted the brass on the door a little more. He had thankfully missed them, but Uravity still grit her teeth in Krow's ear. "How? How did he get in the building without anyone seeing him?"

She was so frustrated she could explode, but Krow seemed awfully collected and spoke evenly. "Easy. He watched for the security change, melted the lock, came in, took out the security, and waited."

Uravity's brow furrowed. "How-"

Krow cut her off. "Truth time; I wasn't the nicest kid growing up."

The temperature dropped again so quickly, Uravity couldn't lament very long over what Krow said. Pyromancer had run out of the building after them, but didn't seem all that disappointed when he found his targets out of reach. Instead, they could only watch as he transferred more heat, sucking it towards himself with his dark magic and directing it towards his best weapon – the building. In a flash, the air all around the skyscraper became warped from the heat. Micro-cracks in the glass face stressed, becoming giant fissures until they all gave in at once, shattering.

Every glass pane on the magnificent building burst outward towards the plaza below, the tinkling of every glass edge against another joined together in what sounded like a sudden rain storm. Like the glass, the screams from the crowd below all melded together into one cacophonous shriek that sent a shiver down Uravity's spine. They hadn't had enough time to clear the area, and now hundreds of people were to be sliced by the transparent razors raining down on their heads. Krow and Uravity also hadn't been far enough away. Krow plunged down to the memorial gardens below and took cover behind the park's central statue of All Might.

Spreading his wings like a shield, Krow blocked the open spaces, protecting them both from the glass that quickly followed them there. When the glass shower subsided, all the world was quiet, save for the far off sirens and agitated traffic attempting to escape the area. Krow shook out his wings and tiny pieces of glass fell to the stone beneath. He grumbled. "How did he do that?"

"Glass isn't perfect. Sudden heating will make it crack and shatter," Uravity said absently as she released her quirk and peaked out from beside All Might's leg. Pyromancer had his back to them, admiring his handy work.

"And how do you know that?" Krow asked, throwing up his arms. It seemed even after a month working together, there were still surprises.

"Truth time," Uravity mimicked her intern from earlier. "My family has a construction business. I know a little something about how materials work."

"Cool, cool, so, what can he do now?" Krow pointed to the villain.

Pyromancer was lifting his arms again, attracting the heat. He wasn't done with the building and Uravity didn't have to tell Krow the psychopath was gearing up to take it down. They had to stop him, and fortunately they weren't the only ones with that idea. Rounding the concrete corners of the building on either side, Red Riot and Real Steel came running, voices ablaze in battle cry, and fists locked and loaded. They weren't exactly graceful about their entrances, but they never had to be. Impenetrable, they both had nothing to fear from most villains and small time criminals. Even Pyromancer's heat had nothing on them as long as he couldn't figure out exactly what minerals hardened their skin. At least that's what Uravity hoped.

Pyromancer slipped out of Real Steel's range as the iron giant came barreling through, side-stepping him at the last moment. Then, with a huge hand, he caught Red Riot by the fist. In one fluid movement, he pulled and slammed her former classmate into his metal companion. The move looked an awful lot like the sort of moves she had learned under Gunhead. She shook the surprise away. Pyromancer was prepared. That's what he was all about. It might as well have been his quirk.

"Let me give you boys something to do," Pyromancer snarled as he lowered his welding goggles over his eyes.

He pointed at the base of the building, and not a moment later the first floor lobby exploded with a familiar BOOM! Dust and chunks of drywall kicked up the resting glass from the initial attack and shot it outward all around the building like shrapnel. They heard the cries again of the crowd on the other side, and Uravity could only imagine the chaos Deku, Ingenium, GroundZero, Shoto, and the other heroes were facing. They heard a counter explosion not nearly as powerful as Pyromancer's equipment burst. That had to be GroundZero, Uravity thought, attempting to block and redirect the oncoming debris. But it was no use. She could see Krow become distracted, and each twitch of his head pointed his nose in the direction of someone who had just become gravely injured, or worse.

As Pyromancer set off another ground-level explosion, Red Riot and Real Steel sprang up from the cobblestone and made beelines to the building. The bottom floor was now engulfed in flames and the building began to moan under its own weight. Chunks of debris and glass pelted the heroes as they ran, but it did not bother them one bit. They were going to do what they said they would – hold the building as long as possible. Red Riot caught a pillar on the left side and assumed his unbreakable form, effectively becoming the pillar as he locked his arms. Real Steel did the same on the right as he squeezed underneath a broken concrete wall. Pyromancer let off another explosion to deter the hard heroes from their duties, but neither one budged as they both grit their teeth.

"This is our chance," Uravity breathed to Krow, and he snapped out of his counting the casualties.

Pyromancer had his back to them, trying to persuade the other two heroes into letting go of the building. Uravity made herself weightless again as she grabbed onto Krow's arm. He kept low to the ground, attempting to get in close to Pyromancer so that Uravity could steal the gravitational pull keeping him steady on the ground. The villain wasn't having any of that, though, and turned around just as Uravity's hand came in close to his shoulder. He waved his armored left hand at them, creating an invisible heat shield that Uravity and Krow flew into. Krow thrust his wings, but it wasn't enough to escape the heat in time, and it ensnared Uravity's hand, burning her. It was so hot, she didn't even feel it at first as Krow pulled her backward and behind a nearby topiary.

Only when they landed did the pain start, like a million, trillion little needles were pushed in and pulled out of her skin as the heat lingered. The skin began to boil and the redness was bright and deceptively itchy. Uravity learned before graduating that her fingers were the most important part of her body to protect, after her head and core. Since then, she always approached villains with her fingers curled back just before touching. The top of her hand and her fingers were burned badly now, but her gravity pads underneath were unscathed.

She caught a whiff that pulled her from her injury - the smell of burning hair. Turning to Krow, she saw him investigating his long flight feathers that he had thrust into the heat in order to get them out of harms way. They were singed, and he tested the hardness of the central veins with two fingers. They were, thankfully, still functional, and he nodded.

"I can still fly," he said. "I can lose half of them before I can't stay airborne anymore."

"Good to know," Uravity nodded as she looked back to Pyromancer who had turned his back on them again.

The air behind him was distorted with heat. The element of surprise was gone and unobtainable now. As much as Uravity was his target, he couldn't help but finish what he started. After all, she guessed he had spent the wee hours of that morning installing all of his explosive devices.

The shine of the brass gauntlet in his right hand shone in the clear sunlight, casting a reflection at her as he raised it higher and higher, taking aim now at the top floors. Her breath became stuck in her throat as she realized what was about to happen next.

"Krow! Get us to Red Riot!" Uravity cried.

She took no time saddling up on his back like a piggy back ride, and he took to the air again. A hard flap of his wings made them airborne. Krow dashed towards Red Riot who was still locked as the building's new side pillar. They sped past Pyromancer, who watched them from the corner of his eye, as another blast boomed ahead. The sound of cracking concrete and the screech of bending metal filled the dusty air. Looking up, Uravity watched as the top of the building burst open like a volcano and threw its top in huge chunks down to the gardens and street below.

As Uravity and Krow swooped under the ledge Red Riot was holding up, the new debris came down like meteors, hitting the pavement with enough force to shake the ground. Smaller pieces rained down, bringing any trapped glass from the first attack down with it. Counter explosions from GroundZero could be heard as the screaming made its way through the broken walls. Another blast and more debris fell like icebergs into a hard ocean. Through all of this, Uravity forgot to look to see if Pyromancer had moved. A huge chunk of concrete and plaster had blocked her view and hid him. Now he was unpredictable, and that was unsettling.

She bit her lip in anxiousness. Now what? So far, all Uravity had been able to do was distract Pyromancer for a measly ten seconds and throw herself and her intern into harm's way. She whipped around to Red Riot whose face was contorted in immense strain, despite his ultimate form. The fact that he was holding up the building with just Real Steel on the other side was incredible to say the least. When they had mentioned it two days ago, everyone had brushed it off as two friends getting ahead of themselves. But they had been serious. Nevertheless, it was clear they couldn't do this forever.

"This building's gonna fall. We're...not gonna be able to hold it...much...longer," Red Riot groaned through his rock teeth.

Uravity offered him her hand. "Then let me hold it-"

"No!" Red Riot shouted, then reeled it in. "No. This is way too heavy. It'll knock you out and Midoriya still needs you later."

Uravity gulped but agreed. She couldn't see Pyromancer but his explosions could still be heard and felt. The screams had died down now as, Uravity hoped, all the civilians had been moved away. The new chunks of metal and drywall hit the pavement noticeable seconds after the explosion that kicked them loose blew. She knew if the building came down in the configuration Pyromancer was going for, it would fall over like a cut tree into the buildings across the street. A decision had to be made here that Red Riot wasn't making.

"Make it fall towards the gardens," Uravity shouted at her former classmate as she pointed ahead. "If it falls that way it won't take any other buildings with in."

"Are...are you sure about that?" Red Riot hesitated, unable to truly commit to letting the building go, much less becoming responsible for its trajectory.

Uravity nodded with absolute surety. "The gardens are as long as the building is tall. It's done purposely to look like a big right angle. I noticed it in the schematics Deku had the other day."

"I'll have to take your word for it." Red Riot groaned under the weight of the building. He began to shift under the broken pillar, inching backwards towards the street to create the necessary angle. "You guys get out of here."

"Won't Pyromancer get crushed?" Krow asked as Uravity removed her own gravity. His eyes were not judgmental, but rather trying to ensure Uravity and Red Riot realized what going forward with this plan meant. Although they couldn't see him, Pyromancer had surrounded himself with huge pieces of debris that would definitely impede his escape should he not realize heroes were permitted to take his life. It occurred to Uravity that perhaps Krow didn't know that either.

"It will be deemed an accident," she said a matter-of-factually. She internally winced at how cold that sounded and tried to explain. "I know that doesn't sound so heroic, but..."

"It's fine by me," Krow cut her off as they prepared to fly. It was clear he didn't care about Pyromancer's well-being. "Premeditated accident...I see now why we don't tell the public everything."

Krow shot up into the air again with a weightless Uravity on his back. They zoomed towards the edge of the gardens as Red Riot coaxed the building backward towards the gardens. They could only hope that Red Riot and Real Steel had planned for something like this, and the steel-clad hero on the opposite side of the building felt the gist through the concrete. Through the wreckage, Uravity couldn't spot Pyromancer or anyone in the landing zone as she and Krow flew overhead.

As she turned to look behind her, Uravity could see the building was in tatters, blown wide open by the constant explosions. Huge chunks of the once beautiful edifice were simply missing, the glass was all gone, the metal was twisted, ugly, and crinkled, and the empty spaces were filled in by raging fires. Anything that could be burning on the inside was, and the smoke billowed out in thick clouds, black as pitch. The explosions had seemingly cut the building in two, right down the vertical middle. Just a few more and it would become two separate towers. They came to the end of the gardens and turned around to wait for the next round of chaos.

The building began to collapse. The metal support beams whined loudly as the building waned towards them, the concrete stairs crunching in their crumbling under the weight of the stories left to fall. Krow shouted something unintelligible and pointed to a figure standing among the rubble. They both knew it was Pyromancer, his brass gauntlets shimmering in what afternoon sunlight could break through the dust and smoke. As the building threatened to squash him, he held a pointer finger towards it.

The explosions that came next within the deep, center cut followed the trajectory of his pointing. Huge blasts, these even larger than the one that broke the building in the first place, were so loud, parked cars abandoned on the avenue below them began to wail. Huge chunks of walls, pipes, and other debris came shooting out of the crevice as it was blown wide open. Whether by the force of the fall or the explosions themselves, the building finally split in two and came crashing down on either side of the gardens. The giant, broken monoliths hit the pavement with enough force to rattle neighboring buildings and blow out their glass windows as well. More glass came raining down from this secondary destruction, but thankfully no one was left on the sidewalk to catch those shards. As the dust spread and thinned, Krow and Uravity could see Pyromancer standing there, fearless. Again he had been prepared.

Krow swooped down behind a huge chunk of debris – an inner wall with its pipes sticking out. What was once a tranquil garden was now a torn battlefield, the flowers covered in dust, the statues broken. With the two halves of the building surrounding them, the gardens' back wall still intact behind them and the broken first floor lobby ahead, Pyromancer had successfully reconstructed the plaza into an arena, much in the same way he had created the coliseum out of the twelve-story apartment building a month ago.

Uravity peeked out from behind their hiding spot. Pyromancer was some distance away, standing in a relatively clear spot. She could tell he didn't know where they were as he turned his head back and forth. He must not have seen them land. Good. The air behind him was no longer distorted, signaling to her that his latest feat had required him to let his heat shield down. The element of surprise was back.

"Gonna go try getting him in the air again," she whispered as she watched Pyromancer. He was clearly waiting for them. His strategy was becoming more obvious.

"Kay, cool, I'll go distract him, and you-" Krow started, fearless as ever, but Uravity cut him off.

"Absolutely not. I can't have you just rush a villain like that. Not again," Uravity put her foot down in a whisper. "In fact..."

Uravity bit her lip. The stinging in her hand had never really subsided; every movement of her fingers drove the trillion needles into her skin and directly to her nerves. Krow was lucky only his feathers had been singed. She knew he didn't mind it though; it had become abundantly clear he had little regard for his own life. This battle was becoming more dangerous than their fight against Echo and Necromancer. At this rate, if Pyromancer was destined to win, then Krow would certainly perish alongside her. She couldn't let that happen. This was beyond his training so far. He was only an intern, no matter what he thought.

"I need you to go," she said sternly. Krow was taken aback by this sudden show of initiative that his mouth hung open. For once, he had nothing to retort. "Go now. You'll be very helpful at the front of the building. There might be people trapped and you can help find them."

"Yeah, sure, but-"

"Krow...I just...I don't want to you die during your internship," she said solemnly. "That's a big possibility." She breathed. "And I'm telling you to leave."

Everything could end for her today. It didn't have to end for Krow. He stood there staring at her, then down, then sideways, trying to come up with a counter-argument, but there wasn't one. This was what he had wanted, right? For her to be real and truthful. Here he was the future victim, and here she was looking him dead in the eyes telling him the prospects didn't look good. He smirked.

"All right. All right," he said quietly as he backed up, finding space for take-off. His face went stern. "Don't make me search for you."

With that, he spread his wings and took to the sky. His parting words were ominous, his dark way of telling her to be careful. It wouldn't be easy keeping such a promise, so she didn't make one.

As he flew towards the building front where the people had gathered in celebration not even an hour ago, Uravity crept towards Pyromancer. The man was still turning his head every which way, uncertain about what direction his opponents would come from next, and now he was relatively defenseless. Krow's shadow flickered by and caught his eye. He whipped his whole body around to follow the young hero. It was clear Uravity was not on Krow's back, but Pyromancer took aim anyway.

The air seemed to force its way down into Uravity's lungs as she gasped, realizing by now what it meant when Pyromancer lifted his pointer finger at an object. She screamed, "Krow!"

The black angel stopped in mid-air like a knee-jerk reaction to the noise, but before he could even turn to look, the invisible heat swiped at him. He cried out as he jerked backwards, the heat burning the bottom of his chin badly and running past to hit the crook of his wing as it flapped forward.

"There you are!" Pyromancer said as he directed his finger towards Uravity. He had used Krow as bait, forcing Uravity to reveal herself and now she was wide open. The element of surprise was lost again. She jumped out of the way and the drywall slab behind her steamed and blackened in his heat.

Uravity threw her hands on the next piece of debris she came to – a long, concrete pillar – and removed gravity's pull on it. She lifted it with ease and swung it forward like a baseball bat, swiping at her adversary with all her strength. Pyromancer put his armored hand up to block. Upon impact, the tip of the pillar shattered, throwing stones at them both. Uravity grit her teeth, sparing a moment to watch Krow get away.

"People are usually pretty shocked when I do that," Pyromancer called to her. "You know, concrete-"

"Is made with water. You super heated the water. I know," she yelled in frustration.

Pyromancer just smirked as Uravity switched gears and ran towards him. Fast and nimble would have to be her game here. She had just a few more tricks up her sleeve before she was out of moves. Before she would have to admit...

"Oh? You're approaching me?" Pyromancer asked, a bit surprised.

She ignored him as he chased after her with directed heat. Trying to get in close, she desperately, but gracefully, dodged his attacks. She noticed how slow he was. Big and burly, Pyromancer seemed to trade agility for strength, and despite failing to land a hit on her at all in this dangerous waltz, he was still intimidating as hell. It would only take one hit to end this, she thought. His hands continued to swipe at her like bear claws, dragging the summer with them. Uravity could feel the heat against her skin and through her suit as his fingers missed her. At some point, she danced right into his sphere of influence, finally close enough to make him float. But it was too dangerous and she bounced back out as he slammed his fist down where she had been standing. The air around him became distorted with heat; he wouldn't allow her to do that again. Getting in close was a fool's errand and she abandoned it. She would have to move on to the next strategy.

As she moved, dodged, and hid, she touched her gravity pads to the debris scattered around. Pyromancer couldn't be the only one to benefit from this battlefield he had created. Soon, there were a bunch of rocks, metal pipes, glass, and concrete chunks floating all around them. Hiding behind a broken wall, Uravity put her fingertips together.

The debris floating up into space now came hurtling down to the ground on top of Pyromancer like a meteor shower, and she hoped one would strategically hit him over the head. Or that he'd at least sweat a little. But all he did was reach for the sky, flicked his wrist to reveal the small gas canisters under the gauntlets, and ignite the gas that seeped out of them. Like Bakugo at her first Sports Festival match, Pyromancer protected himself with a blast of fire, catapulting the biggest pieces away. Dust and pebbles rained down on him still, but he just brushed them off.

"Classic Uravity stunt," Pyromancer grumbled, offended. "I thought you'd take me more seriously."

She had taken him seriously. She had given him everything she had, but he was too well-matched for her. And she was too late. As she approached again from behind, he turned around and ignited the gas again, creating a wall of fire between them. Uravity used the light show to escape behind the fallen wall again. At least she could break his line of sight. That seemed to be all she could do – get out of his periphery.

Now, it was really seeming hopeless. Pyromancer just stood where he had been, waiting for her. He knew exactly how she worked, and given his abilities, his best strategy was to wait for her to come to him. He had a lot of time before other heroes got here, and he was keenly in tune with who he would be facing. His goal here today was to kill Uravity. After that, he could slip into the shadows, become a no-name tourist as he had been.

It dawned on her then that she had been picked on purpose. He picked this fight precisely because he had the overwhelming advantage. If he had gone up against Shoto or Deku, the odds would have been ever in their favor. Hell, even if he had picked Current, or anyone with ranged attacks for that matter, the fight would have been more fair. But Uravity hinged on being in close-quarters with the enemy. It was the reason she had trained with Gunhead all those years ago – it was an obvious weakness. Pyromancer knew this very well. This was a low-effort fight for him. He probably always did this. Any hero he had fought in the past was deliberately selected to die. Uravity was only here to bait the murderer into coming here as per the invitation, not so much to fight him on her own. That was probably what Deku had wanted to tell her that morning, but drowning in her own personal and professional issues, she hadn't wanted to hear it out loud. Not from him.

Uravity had no choice now, and she backed down, not just from the fight, but from herself. She wanted to show everyone she could handle a big case alone, like a pro, and prove she was independent. That she didn't need anyone, but that...that wasn't fair to her, was it? Post-All Might heroes strived to be as versatile and flexible as him, with dire consequences. It was something Ryukyu had been pandering to lately. Perhaps it was the reason she kept everyone in pairs, close together, on the same routes as other agencies, with radios to always ensure they had each other's backs. But Uravity hadn't really given it her whole attention. She swallowed a brand new truth, one she guessed she had to come to terms with before becoming fully-fledged: her abilities weren't the answer to every situation. As she tip-toed along the fallen wall, a jagged pathway towards where the building once stood, she finally realized she had been coming at this all wrong. This, and that other thing, too. Just like Krow had suggested.

Pyromancer hadn't made any noise. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Flames still alight upon debris crackled over the ever-present scream of ambulance sirens. She guessed he was listening for her, and her heart clenched painfully, anticipating the noise she would have to make sprinting towards the building plateau in order to reach her friends. Were they coming?

At that very thought, ice raced across the battlefield towards Pyromancer, pointed crystals rose up from the covered ground. It froze the debris all around it and the temperature came down. Pyromancer held out his hands, and the ice sublimed around him. Uravity remained hidden, and watched as Shoto revealed himself, sliding down the ice. She could tell he was keeping his fire side completely subdued, and frost was already clinging to his right cheek. She guessed he had used his ice to protect people on the other side; he looked spent.

From behind him came Deku. The green-clad hero didn't take any time to extend his black whips toward Pyromancer. In an attempt to subdue and capture, the dark tendrils came from overhead. The older man jumped out of the way as the whips slammed down on the ground. They gave chase, twisting down and upward to follow Pyromancer, trying to wrap around him.

"Hey! Hey! Fight's over!" Pyromancer shouted, giving the new heroes on scene a strained grin. "Once the bird left, it was easy to kill her."

At the word "kill", Deku's black whips crinkled, agitated. Deku recoiled, as if receiving a painful shock from them, and they hung in the air before retreating back to his arm, refusing to work for him anymore. Uravity knew the black whip was a fickle thing. Deku hadn't even tried to summon it very much after its first manifestation all those years ago. Since graduation, he must have dabbled in training it, but it required so much emotional focus, she guessed Pyromancer's assertion, whether or not Deku really believed it, was enough of a jolt to break his concentration. And now Pyromancer knew this, too.

Uravity bit her tongue as she watched, remaining hidden. Did Pyromancer think she was stupid? She wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. As much as it looked like Deku and Shoto needed the reassurance she was, in fact, still alive, Pyromancer only did it to make her reveal herself, to make her call out to them. Just like when he had shot Krow. She needed to do something to let them know it was a lie.

Shoto was the first to recover, shooting more ice towards Pyromancer. "The fight's not done until you're in jail, old man."

Their two powers collided in steam, equally matched. Now the battlefield was shrouded in white mist, and it was getting harder to see. The want to reunite with her friends still tugged at her, but Uravity distracted herself with taking advantage of the limited visibility. But she wouldn't approach him again without support. Instead, she stole the gravity from the huge chunk of concrete beside her and heaved it towards where she believed Pyromancer still stood. She heard a gasp and an explosion as she ran towards Shoto and Deku. They stared at her as if they were seeing a ghost.

"He...does mind games," Uravity breathed, the elongated fight wearing her thin. "He...he will also use the heat as a shield. I haven't...I haven't been able to get close to him."

"Good to know," Shoto said quietly, possible strategies already making their way into his brain.

"We're just glad you're okay," Deku added.

Uravity nodded. She could hear new footfalls behind her as they stared into the mist, an ominous lull in the fight had commenced. Iida, in his full Ingenium suit, arrived, his breathing also labored.

"Civilian rescue underway, almost complete," he reported. "I am here to offer any aid I can, seeing as Real Steel and Red Riot are out of commission."

Before he could continue, a tiny, orange light poked out from the mist and approached them, like a stray ember from the gut of a fire. Feeling the sinking dread in her stomach, Uravity shouted before the innocent, little spark burst in front of them. At her shout, Shoto raised a wall of ice to protect them from the explosion. The ice splintered.

Deku grit his teeth. "There's always another trick up his sleeve!"

"Spread out around him," Shoto ordered. "I'll cool him down with my ice. You guys get in close, just like we planned. And Midoriya, if you can get rid of all this damn mist, that'd be great."

Uravity and Ingenium sprinted out of there in opposite directions as Deku launched an air blast. The sudden gust of wind blew the mist away and revealed Pyromancer standing almost exactly where he had been before he had collided with Shoto. He was grinning. Circling around, Uravity and Ingenium came at Pyromancer full force. He'd only be able to dodge one of them, and Uravity was hoping he'd try to miss the powerful kick from Ingenium and allow her to touch him. But Pyromancer maintained his unpredictability.

The fiery madman took aim at Uravity with an outstretched arm and open hand. She bounced out of the way as he closed his hand, all five fingers touching. The air in the spot she had just been standing ignited and burst, just as the tiny ember had before. Holding up his other arm, he took Ingenium's kick point blank. A loud crunch could be heard, and then the soft hissing of escaping gas.

"Look out!" Uravity called out, but Pyromancer was already swiping in front of Ingenium with an open palm. The escaping gas lit up and exploded, blowing the knight-like hero backward into a pile of rubble.

Just as quickly as that exchange ended, a streak of green lightning barreled through, catching itself in Pyromancer's abdomen and sending him flying through a broken wall. Deku now stood where the villain had, but the villain wasn't through. Erupting from the debris with a frustrated yell, Pyromancer waved his hand, catching embers from a nearby fire and shooting them towards the heroes. Shoto ran up, creating walls of ice to block the incoming explosions. The embers popped, cracking the ice and sending icicles every which way. Shoto directed more ice towards Pyromancer in response, encasing him in an iceberg up to his chest. His arms were completely immobile and arrested behind him.

Shoto exhaled, his breath a little cloud. Ice crystals had begun to overtake his body, but as instructed, he refused to use his fire to reset. Deku emerged from behind Shoto's ice wall, as did Ingenium, and both approached the encased Pyromancer with vigilance. Uravity watched from a broken wall, not entirely trusting this situation but ready to move in all the same.

"It's over now. Stand down," Deku ordered with more caution than confidence.

Pyromancer only smirked and shook his head as a plume of steam rose up from behind him and the ice around him cracked as it was heated. The cracks turned to fissures and then burst, shooting huge chunks of ice outward. A brick of ice pelted Deku in the shoulder as he missed one launched at his face. He grit his teeth, frustrated and running out of options. Pyromancer had set up his heat shield again and was looking annoyed. He pointed again, sending blasts of heat towards Shoto and Deku. The latter jumped out of the way and the ice behind him steamed where Shoto was covered.

This did not deter the three, however, and Shoto reestablished the icy terrain as Deku and Ingenium bravely approached Pyromancer at top speed. Going on the defensive, the heat shield around the villain expanded and the air around him became even more distorted. The ice trying to encapsulate him steamed, subliming as it approached. Meanwhile, Deku and Ingenium took the charge, but Pyromancer didn't seem all that scared. As soon as they entered his hot cocoon, they changed gears, retreating somewhat. Deku flicked a finger, sending a pulse of air that fanned away the heat, opening a window for Ingenium to attack.

Uravity could see it on Pyromancer's face as his smirk ran away – he was surprised! But it didn't last for long. Ingenium came in with a kick to Pyromancer's front, which the villain attempted to catch with his gauntlets. Both villain and hero's equipment cracked and broke, leaving Pyromancer with only one good gauntlet. He threw the other one aside as he and Ingenium parted. He then reestablished his heat barrier once more, and extended it outward to drive the heroes away. Both Ingenium and Deku jumped out of the way as Shoto took this opportunity to fill the void with fresh ice. Uravity grit her teeth in frustration. She had been hoping Ingenium could have distracted Pyromancer long enough for her to run in and float him. However, the more she thought about it, the more unlikely it seemed that it would do much good.

Ingenium joined her behind the debris and ice, panting. This was getting dire. All three of her comrades were running out of steam. After having rescued people on the other side and now facing such a formidable opponent, they were coming to their limits. And no one else was coming. No one else could come. Not safely, anyway. It was a miracle that Ingenium's engines weren't overheating and stalling, although it looked like they might at any moment as he slumped up against the wall.

Uravity took a look around the corner of their hiding spot and saw Shoto and Deku conversing as they fought off Pyromancer's heat blasts. With another glacier subliming into thick mist, Deku parted from him and joined Uravity and Ingenium behind the wall. Shoto continued to keep Pyromancer occupied.

"Midoriya," Ingenium breathed. "We need a plan, and I'm fresh out. I thought that last bit would do it, but he's too well-versed in fighting."

"He's virtually unstoppable in this heat," Deku murmured as the clash of Shoto's ice and Pyromancer's heat hissed loudly and hid their voices. "In this heat, all Todoroki can do is bring down his power, but we just can't subdue him."

"We can't get close to him, either. If he wanted to, he could melt us," Uravity added, holding up her burnt hand for the guys to see her paltry progress. Pyromancer was not playing around. She didn't believe that he was limitless, but certainly better at conserving his own energy. His sit-and-wait strategy helped and fed into his over-confidence. Pyromancer knew the heroes were bound to their duty to capture him, so predicting their movements was a piece of cake.

"Agreed," Ingenium said, his voice flat. "I'm not interested in finding out if my suit could very well become an oven. But we need to find some weakness..."

Uravity thought. Pyromancer relied heavily on prediction. If they could just do something to surprise him, and keep him guessing, then maybe they'd have a shot. But he was also very good at adapting. Deku was right. As long as he had the outside heat, then he could counter them somehow, and every one of his hits could be deadly.

Deku looked up into the sky, but didn't say anything. The clear day had become shadowed with dust and steam, but the summer heat continued to rush to Pyromancer's aid. Uravity immediately understood what he was thinking, putting their predicament together with what Krow revealed two days ago. Deku had another plan, but no one would like it.

He finally spoke. "We can't remove the heat, so we'll have to remove Pyromancer...bring him to a place with no heat."

Uravity kept quiet. Ingenium huffed. "And where, pray tell, would that be...?"

He trailed as he began to put some of the pieces together.

"It is cold somewhere," Deku said ominously.

"Are...are you mad?"

"If Uraraka removes his gravity, I can launch him a few thousand meters up...just enough to get him out of this heat. Then, I can subdue him up there."

"It would need to happen quickly," Uravity added. She would follow him into hell.

"I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate this plan," Ingenium argued, but had no substance.

Uravity had to ignore him. Desperate situations called for desperate actions. This seemed like the only answer. They had exhausted every other idea that wasn't a suicide mission. "Iida, can you get me in close?"

Put on the spot, Ingenium paused and stared. His pleas would go unanswered. He could either help his friends do this or watch them attempt it without him. "I...yes. Yes, I can."

"Good," she said, tired of this fight. She touched her own shoulder with one hand, and touched Deku's with the other. Both became weightless. Deku put a few pebbles into his red pockets, just enough to balance his momentum.

Uravity exchanged glances with him. This would have to be timed perfectly if they were to catch Pyromancer off guard. Anything less than perfect could spell the end. But despite the heavy prospects and unknown nature of it all, Uravity felt relatively safe. She trusted Deku's judgment. He wouldn't let anything terrible befall her. And she wouldn't let anything happen to him either. At least not before the job was done.

Shoto yelled, and the three split. Shoto's ice came from within, which meant he had a limit and was now hitting that wall hard. Pyromancer's heat continually replenished, and his onslaught of fire and brimstone had steadily worn the half and half hero down. Deku came to his aid, rushing towards Pyromancer only to fake him out and change directions. Pyromancer grumbled, trying but unable to follow Deku's lightning fast movements. Attempting to shoot the green hero down, Pyromancer let his heat shield down to focus the energy into useless shots, giving Ingenium and Uravity an opening.

Speeding up from behind, Ingenium launched Uravity like a missile forward, with every intention of at least getting this villain into the air. But even as Deku came in dangerously close to him, Pyromancer became suspicious. He whipped around to face Uravity. The villain snatched her out of the air, grabbing her by the back of the neck, thrusting her in front of him like a meat shield. Deku realized this as their eyes met with dread and horror. In a heart-stopping second, Deku aborted the plan, flicking a finger to his right to change his trajectory in the nick of time. He gently stopped at a fallen wall and sank to the ground.

Pyromancer angrily torn off Uravity's helmet and tossed it across the battlefield. He dug his fingers into her neck. His huge hand wrapped comfortably all the way around her delicate throat, his thumb and forefinger pressing against her trachea. He dug his other pointer finger into her temple. For all intents and purposes, Uravity surmised, she was a hostage held at gunpoint.

Everyone stood frozen as Pyromancer began to laugh, his voice originating in his stomach as he shouted. "I knew you wouldn't do it. I knew you wouldn't do it!"

No one answered him. Shoto attempted to use his ice, but his reserves were totally spent and Pyromancer melted it before it amounted to anything. Then his finger was back on her temple.

"Go ahead! Why not use those black tentacles? Is it because that trick is emotionally bound and she's your friend?" Pyromancer taunted. "Predictable. You're predictable!"

She swallowed painfully past his fingers. Uravity knew better than to expect Deku to use the black whip, even if it was the answer to this problem. She could see it in his eyes – he was too frantic about this situation to use them properly. He was still trying to think of someway to get her out of there, though, as was she. But there were too many variables, and the safest thing to do at the moment was nothing.

Despite the grim outlook, Pyromancer had also backed himself into a corner in his desperate attempt to disengage Deku. And she knew it was Deku. Pyromancer could melt Shoto's ice all day and he had already shown he wasn't adverse to taking Ingenium's powerful kicks. But Deku was holding back in an attempt to take Pyromancer alive. Should Pyromancer kill Uravity right now, that could change. If he understood their relationship as well as he let on, then he ought to know how personal grief can throw caution to the wind. Deku would catch him. He wasn't getting out of this to skulk about the city after this.

Pyromancer's confidence was an act. And Uravity knew it.

A sudden calm washed over her. Being unpredictable was the name of the game. Pyromancer didn't understand Deku's powers as much as Deku didn't understand Pyromancer's. But Pyromancer thought he knew Uravity. If that was the case, then she needed to be someone else. She decided to be Krow. Throw caution out the window. Have complete disregard for her own life. Do something fucking crazy.

Uravity stared intensely at Deku. She hoped he understood that she wasn't afraid and was lowering her expectations of survival another few levels. And that she was okay with it. She wanted him to break the stalemate. Lifting her arms above her head, Uravity grabbed onto Pyromancer's wrist and arm, stealing his gravity. Pyromancer squeezed her neck harder and she winced, but he was already weightless. This plan was going forward!

Not a half second later, Deku bolted towards them, green lightning arcing off the walls and pipes. He grabbed Pyromancer by the jaw and dragged him backward via momentum alone on weightless objects. Despite her hopes but aligning with her expectation, the villain held onto her. He was so stuck on annihilating her, convinced she was his only shield against the green hero, that he opted to take her with him. Deku grabbed onto a large piece of debris and swung his arm like a catapult, throwing Pyromancer up to the new battlefield. It all happened so quickly, that Uravity barely had time to regret channeling Krow's recklessness.

Like a shot out of a cannon, they ascended. The wind barreled down on her head and screamed in her ears as they went higher and higher. The air was being sucked out of her lungs as they reached new heights, and Uravity kept her eyes closed. At some point, the air began to slow their ascent and Pyromancer yelled in a frustrated rage. Everyone on the ground had been a distraction and he had put himself in a disadvantageous position. In his annoyance, he let off a blast to the side, taking their momentum and investing it into moving across the sky rather than further up into it. In doing so, Uravity knew, he spent the last bit of heat he brought with him all in an attempt to get away from Deku. And he still wasn't taking her seriously.

Uravity opened her eyes as they slowed down, the friction of the air stopping them. They were past the city limits now – farmland stretched underneath them in perfect little squares and the coastline was a jagged white line between the green and blue. It was beautiful, mesmerizing, and cold. A chill quickly raced down her spine and she suddenly felt the effects of this height as her vision became lop-sided. She shook the dizziness away, or rather, Pyromancer did.

He shook her violently and yelled in her ear, "What have you done, you crazy bitch?"

Having officially lost his cool, he let her go and pointed right at her face. Knowing full well he was powerless, Uravity stared him down as he warmed her face with what little power he had left. Pyromancer let down his arm and chuckled. That chuckle became a full laugh as he rolled up, holding his gut. He lifted the welding goggles from his eyes. "How desperate. You think you've beaten me? Little girl? Look at where we are!"

Uravity floated there and didn't answer him. The air was thick and frozen, and slid down her windpipe painfully. She still stared him down.

"One on one, you would have been dead. Dead! It was only a matter of time before you tired out, did something stupid..."

"That sounds a lot like what you did," Uravity said evenly between heavy breaths.

Pyromancer grit his teeth. "I'm not tired one bit. Bring us back down and let's have a fair fight."

"That wasn't a fair fight, and you know it. That's how you planned it."

It was carefully crafted that way.

"Sure it was," he argued, his sick, twisted logic coming through as clear as it had that evening at the ramen restaurant. "It was your quirk against mine, and your's proved to be too weak. You're a support class at best; you can't do anything on your own. You need to be saved by another hero. You're a pawn."

The words stung in Uravity's ears. Her demons attempted to claw to the surface and agree with Pyromancer, but she pushed them down instead. For once, she ignored those feelings of uselessness, weakness, and pointlessness. For too long they made her believe that what she had accomplished still wasn't enough. That leaning on others was a sign of vulnerability. But it wasn't. She knew that now. It was okay to need people. It was okay to want...

"No, I'm not," she growled. Not an ounce of doubt could be heard in her sturdy voice, not a wince nor crack disturbed its evenness. She met Pyromancer's eyes with all of the confidence in the world. "I can do plenty on my own. It's okay for me to ask for help. This is a competition to you, but it's my job to defeat you, no matter how it happens. I'm not a pawn. But even if I was, I'm still the one that got you up here. You're unarmed now...and I did that."

That had been the plan all along, hadn't it? Pyromancer's defeat had hinged on Uravity's quirk. Deku, Shoto, and Ingenium had done everything in their power to make an opening, just for her to land the tide-changing blow. She could take pride in that. She allowed herself to finally take pride in that.

Pyromancer grit his teeth and Uravity bolstered her confidence. She could trust people in her life; the fiery demon could not. And now, backed into a corner of empty space, he floated in place as the undefended king piece, praying that the knight wouldn't find them hundreds of miles from where they started.

She noticed Pyromancer's eyes move past her, like something in the distance caught his attention and, although slight, dread had spread across his face. He knew his defeat was imminent, it was just a matter of time now. Uravity turned around to see what had distracted her opponent, but she already knew it was Deku. Cutting through the sky like a green rocket, he propelled himself with constant air blasts from his fingertips. He wore a fearless grin – this fight was over.

In less than a second, Deku arrived with a well-placed knee into Pyromancer's abdomen with enough force to chase the wind out of the older man's lungs and make something snap somewhere deep in his body. Pyromancer went flying further out over the countryside.

Breathing hard, Deku turned to Uravity with an outstretched hand and a warm smile. "Let's go get him!"

She beamed in the most honest way she ever had. Fired up, Uravity and Ochako could finally agree on something – it was okay to rely on Deku. It was okay to want him there. It didn't mean she wasn't a capable hero in her own right, and right now, it would take the both of them to bring this monster to justice.

She grabbed his hand with one hand and clasped the other to his shoulder. He held her hand tightly, and their eyes met as he made sure she was ready. He aimed a pulled finger behind them and flicked it to push them forward. It was almost like Deku had wings with the way he could accurately maneuver in the air, the way he had found her again so quickly, even in this endless sky. As high as she was feeling now, it came to an abrupt end as they approached Pyromancer. They could tell he was waiting for them, unable to change his trajectory. Somehow he had been able to steady himself, and he was ready for the next wave of the fight.

Knowing exactly what to do, Uravity readied herself. With a nod, Deku threw her like a slingshot towards their adversary. She equipped herself with a prepared fist and slammed it down towards Pyromancer. He quickly dodged and grabbed her wrist, clearly tired and annoyed up to his limit with her silly games. He didn't account for Deku, though, who came in like a wrecking ball, knocking Pyromancer in the nose with his fist. Uravity twisted her wrist out of Pyromancer's grasp as the old man was clapped backwards again. Distraction complete. Using his long coat like a parachute, Pyromancer stopped himself and floated from them just a short distance away and slightly underneath them.

Deku yelled down to him, "Stand down! The fight is over!"

Pyromancer wiped the blood trickling down his face from his newly broken nose and spit out a loose tooth. He grinned, the rest of his teeth stained red. "It's not over until one side is dead!" he yelled back.

Deku shook his head in disbelief. Pyromancer yelled to them again, this time holding out his hands menacingly in an official challenge. "Why are you holding back? Aren't you a hero? Save everyone by killing me. Am I not a threat to humanity?"

"Come stop me, heroes!"

He was never going to get it. As Uravity and Deku flew down to fight him, the thought nestled itself into her brain that perhaps he wasn't as narcissistic as he first seemed. He kept his conviction – may the weaker quirk lose. He was begging for Deku to take his life, as he believed the end of the competition should go. He would never understand this wasn't a battle of wits or quirks; it was two heroes attempting to bring down a mass murderer. If they could bring him in alive so that he could properly pay for what he had done, they would.

As they hit Pyromancer again and again, he blocked each of their attacks and they bounced off the brass gauntlet he still wore. It was clear he hated to play defense as the two heroes battered him from all angles, trying to knock him out. As much as he was fine dying, he wasn't about to make it easy for them. As Uravity came close again, hand balled into a fist with Deku right behind her, she saw Pyromancer's face change from frustrated lockjaw, to an epiphany. He then outstretched both hands towards the heroes, and this confused her. It was the same stance he took when he was summoning heat. But that couldn't be right, unless...

Pyromancer caught her by the wrist and waved his other hand over her. Her blood ran cold, as if he had pulled her soul from the deepest reaches of her core. Her body sucked in air in shock, gasping loudly. All of a sudden, the frozen air around her became so much more apparent and her body frantically went into spasm, shivering violently to build up heat again. Pyromancer had torn her body heat from her and tossed her gently aside to float on forever towards the sea. She wrapped her arms around herself, brought in her legs, but nothing seemed to work. She watched helplessly as the demon performed the same stunt on Deku and used the excess heat to combust the limited oxygen in the air between them.

Deku was blown back, but quickly recovered as his green lightning returned. Uravity breathed a sigh of relief as she shivered, holding her frozen hands to her equally cold neck. Deku's quirk could replenish heat as it was sapped, she guessed as she watched him quickly get back in the ring. He fought valiantly without her, seemingly frantic to end it quickly. Angrily. Forcefully.

But why?

Thinking started to become difficult as she drifted further and further from the fight, further and further from consciousness. To conserve what little energy it had left, her body gave up on shivering. A single thought ran through her mind, but she could only tell that it wasn't good. She moved her fingers painfully to test them, only to find that they were so numb, she wasn't sure if they ever existed.

Despite her state of consciousness fading in and out with the tide below her, the Earth coming to a complete stop, and all sound drowned out by silence, she watched Deku fight, now a tiny figure in the distance letting off a brilliant light show she no longer understood. But she understood Deku. He was still a clear thought in her mind as she drifted and held out a torch for his victory. He and Pyromancer clashed over and over again. Explosions rang out silently in orange glows, Deku kept up the barrage.

The orange and green glows bounced off each other again and again, and at some point, she forgot why. But it seemed the green was overtaking the orange, as she guessed it should. When the orange glows stopped and the mysterious other figure fell slowly towards the green squares below, she felt happy.

The good guy had won.

What did he win?

Nothing.

Nothing but blackness. Nothing but cold.

Nothing but nothing.

Nothing.

This was death.

This had to be the end.

Somehow she made the connection but couldn't feel for it.

Nothing.

Nothing but blackness. Nothing but cold. Nothing but a hint of regret.

Nothing.

Until there was something.

A hint of the outside world tickled her senses awake, the sound of air being pushed close to her ear, the cold air and something warm making a gradient across her skin. The air got louder, something pushed itself against her and the nerves sent lazy messages to her thoughts. But that couldn't be right. She was lost in the void.

She didn't exist.

And yet, she had been found.

A voice murmured something unknown and she groaned in automatic response, feeling the pull of her vocal cords. Her hands were heated against the warmth pushing against her, and the numbness drained from them slowly and painfully, as if the skin would burst. The warmth pushed against her, but it was soft and comforting, and a familiar smell, a familiar sound, penetrated her mind and demanded it wake up, and foster a familiar feeling. The voice murmured again and the air pushed heavier as it passed her ear.

She was certain she was still dead. After all, this thudding in her chest didn't belong to her. She was convinced she wasn't the one breathing so heavily. She wasn't the one talking. She wasn't the one living.

Who had joined her in the void? Who would dare dive into the underworld after her? This was someone. This was someone she knew. A familiar sound manifested itself into words, into a voice that was unmistakable. His heroic act here was to pull her out of death, but it seemed he, too, was drowning in it. His breath was labored, and pushed past her ear. Something to hear in this nothingness.

As she began to come to, she opened her eyes just a crack to let the afternoon sun filter through. The sky was awash in the prettiest oranges and pinks she had ever seen, stained against a flat blue canvas. Caught off guard by the beauty of death, she leaned her head to the side lazily, coming in contact with his cheek, a hot iron against her ice. As painful as it was to consider she may still be among the living, she continued to lean on him. And suddenly, as he spoke again, his voice in a hushed and breathless low tone, she realized who this was. Now more aware of the situation, and the memories flooding back in, she could hear him clearly.

"Uraraka, please...wake up."

She was awake, but only slightly and completely unable to answer him. Trapped in her own body, but with no energy to be afraid, she hung loosely in his arms as they floated over the ocean at a height no one could find them. It struck her then, as she stared into the colorful mix of the sky, that danger presented itself. And no one cared. Neither of them had the strength or wherewithal to get down. Quirks didn't exist. They couldn't be used again. And no one cared.

No one cared.

It was supposed to be done quickly, a perfect design. Not without risks. Not without accepting an inevitable sacrifice. They were supposed to have the upper-hand, though...but in what, her mind still kept a secret. It was too preoccupied with staying alive, using his heat to try and get back to at least a state in which secondary systems could come back to life – like talking.

But she stayed silent and he pressed her to his chest in what felt like agony. He was suffering. His breathing was labored, the limited oxygen pulling him into a stage of consciousness only slightly better than hers. The cold would eventually tear this moment away. But for the time being, if this was how it all ended – in a desperate, last ditch effort to stay alive against an unforgiving wind – then she would relish in it. After all, what had needed to get done, had been done. She was off the clock now, right? She could stop thinking and absorb all of the primitive feelings flowing through her, unabated by logic, ambition, and other silly things that had mattered more than being in love with him.

And she was in love with him.

All of the stupid things that had gotten in the way were now so far away. All of the stress. All of the awkwardness. All of the wasted time, and for what? For promotions. For money. For a future that was now out of her reach. That wasn't going to happen. She had taken time for granted. And for what?

What was it good for? What was denying this feeling really worth in the end? Someone had asked her that.

When was it? Who was it?

Why don't you reach for your own happiness?

Who said that? Where were they?

Had they known he was pulling on her heartstrings? Had they known she was sacrificing everything for some other goal? She thought these things were mutually exclusive, that she had to choose. There were no choices now.

It was all for a better life, but was that true?

What life?

Could any life be better without this? Without him to share it with? Alone with one night stands and loveless flings, all to come up to a goal that left her feeling accomplished yet empty? All it would have taken to change this regret were three simple words and the guts to say them.

As he calmed, his body forced air in, pushing his chest against her and offering the only outside sound present in the world. He was still warm and where her arms had hung loosely before, she forged the strength to wrap them around his torso. In reality, it was slow and slight, but in her mind, it was quick, deliberate, the only ounce of passion she had left was spent showing him she was alive and was there for him. She felt him move beneath her and over her and all around her, but that had to be the effects of being up here, so high. So high.

It made her want to say it. She wanted to say it. She had nothing to lose, now. She wanted to say it so badly as he completely filled all of her senses.

Among the clouds, then.

That had been someone's advice.

Who said that?

When was that?

She wanted to say it and he had no idea. She wanted to say it so badly. So badly and he couldn't even guess. She wanted to take whatever was left, and tell the damn truth for once. She wanted to say it.

I love you.

Is what she meant.

"I miss you."

Is all that escaped her strangled breath here. She felt him turn his head, his nose brushing against her cheek. His breath had slowed, warming her neck in a way that would have, in any other situation, sent her into a frenzy. But she had barely the energy to think, much less turn her own head to face him. He waited, though, lazily resting his forehead to her temple, barely able to stay awake himself. Now he was the silent one. Unable to ask her what she meant. His hair tickled her face, and this odd embrace was like a call back to a time when she had more control. When she had a better chance. When she could have done more. For herself. For him.

Lost in a memory. Unable to escape a dream, a wrong choice.

There was barely enough energy to keep her eyes open. Barely the time to think. There was enough strength in her to become frustrated at this, though, as they drifted above the clouds. She had more to say, things that were more specific, but that wasn't allowed. There was just a bit more energy for her brain to latch onto this sentiment and move her tired lips.

"I'm always missing you."

She wished he understood, and even as he clutched her tighter, she spent one last thought on telling herself he couldn't.

How could he?

The cold seeped in and the heat dissipated. It was just a matter of time before...

Before things started to fade away.

Things didn't make sense again and she closed her eyes.

So tired. So tired.

Drifting weightlessly in a dream among clouds, in a colorful sky with...someone. Her fingers became cold and then numb and she thought she had been here before. Except it was more empty. She didn't hear a voice. She didn't feel a heartbeat. She wasn't sure where all the sensations went.

Where had they gone?

Why were they gone?

She was lost.

She didn't exist.

There was nothing. Nothing but cold. Nothing but blackness.

Nothing but nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.


	8. Backdraft

Nothing.

They came and went, the slight interruptions, the visions of candy-colored clouds, the fleeting and far-off sounds hindered by the wind's whispers. Between these blips of sensory stimulation, there was mostly nothingness, an empty black that bent time in strange, invisible shapes.

Nothing.

Nothing but cold. Nothing but the dark.

A frozen, endless black ink.

A gentle light would peak through the empty blackness here and there, but this was still the void. This was still quiet nothingness. This was still death. But, oh, how her senses still clung to any sort of sensation as they flashed by.

Pink.

Orange.

A sky so calm.

Green.

Lightning.

Being dead meant life was the dream.

Black.

Wings.

And if life was the dream, then surely this was waking now. Waking up to the cold, hard facts.

Red.

Lights.

What a pity.

Sound penetrated the blackness first and refused to leave her. Nothing blaring, but a steady beeping somewhere far off, hushed voices, and other gentle white noise made its way into her brain. At first, she didn't understand them. The noises never ceased again and soon they were joined by another sensation, one she had forgotten about long ago: warmth.

Ochako stirred as she came back to life, refusing to fully awaken for the longest time, even as a gentle yellowish light seeped through her eyelids. Scrunching her eyes shut even more, she finally gave a sigh, and accepted that she had rested long enough. Opening her eyes, she stared at a perfectly white ceiling. Suddenly, all of the sounds around her began to make sense; she was in a hospital.

The plastic bed and its thin mattress beneath her had stiffened her back, and she groaned as she sat up, grabbing onto the bars and sliding back. It was then she noticed the pinkie finger of her left hand had been wrapped in gauze, covering her gravity pad there. Beyond it and the bed, she spotted something black and looked up to see Krow sitting in a chair against the radiator and window just a few feet away. He was slouched, having made himself at home by her side, his elbow propped up on the arm rest, curling his fingers under his cheek as a magazine lay limp on his lap. His wings were slumped behind him and over the arm rests, and the thought that Krow's quirk was simply cumbersome in so many ways visited her mind before she noticed him staring back at her, a blank look in his black eyes. He didn't seem surprised to see her awake, but rather waiting to see if she'd do anything else. His lips parted.

"Are you...awake now, or...?" he started, keeping his terrible posture in the chair.

Ochako wasn't sure how to answer the question. "Huh?"

"Just asking...it's not funny when you do this and then go back to sleep," he smirked.

"I don't...remember that," she said, still groggy, rubbing her head where the pillow had tried becoming one with her. More stiffness, this time in her neck, shot a sharp needle of pain directly under her skull. She couldn't remember anything, to be exact, including the reason for her visit today.

The black angel leaned forward in the chair, bringing his hands together. "Then I guess that means you're up for good. Have a nice nap?"

Confusion swept over her and she stared quizzically. What the hell was he talking about? Yes, she was in a hospital, but he was acting like she had kept him here for days. "I guess?"

"Good. You've been out for a few days," he told her. Oh. So, she had. "Everyone has been sending you gifts and crap. Look!"

He pointed to a small dresser on the opposite wall. It was covered in cards, vases with flowers in them, balloons, and even a small teddy bear wishing her well. Krow got up from his seat and ambled his way over to the gift table.

"The agency has been taking turns sitting here with you. Ryukyu didn't want you to wake up all alone, ya know?" he said, picking up a card from the table. "Lots of people have come to visit you. You have stuff here from literally everyone, but I thought you should see this one first."

Krow returned to her side and handed her a small card with the local police station's shield on the front. Ochako opened it slowly, still trying her memory, but coming up empty. The inside of the card was nothing fancy, but the neatly typed words struck a chord in her as it all started to come back.

 _Dear Deku and Uravity,_

 _We cannot thank you enough for your bravery in capturing the terrorist Pyromancer. You both risked your lives to bring him in, never stopping until the job was done, and acted as exemplary heroes. If it weren't for your sacrifice, many more innocent lives would have been lost._

 _It was a pleasure working with you._

 _Detective Funai_

 _Detective Tsukauchi_

Ochako exhaled. It all came flooding back at the mention of that name: Pyromancer. The office skyscraper tumbling down, the rain of glass, the screams, the heat...

Looking for more evidence, Ochako swiftly lifted her right hand and found it completely bandaged in gauze, covering the place where Pyromancer had marked her. Chewing at her cheek, she wondered how bad it was under the dressing. Would it leave a scar?

Across the room, Krow had returned to the gifts, collecting the cards, making a stack of reading material for his mentor. Ochako didn't say anything as she noticed his chin where Pyromancer had shot him; a long, red burn mark that folded under his throat matched the trajectory of heat the villain had sent his way. Following the path the invisible laser had taken, Ochako now noticed the bald patch on the wrist of his left wing, the skin red and raw there as well. It looked like he was taking care of it, though, and she hoped feathers would grow back there one day. She smiled meekly to herself, becoming sure after she was released he'd make a comment or twelve about matching scars and blow off the danger they had been in. Instead of getting frustrated though, she sighed. He would be right. They had survived. It was just a story now.

"So, to update you, they caught Pyromancer – he's in cold, solitary confinement and is gettin' shipped back to America. It's too bad we couldn't see them cross examine him here. God, that woulda been so lit...like they did to Necro and Echo. I feel cheated."

He shrugged when it was obvious nothing could be done. Such was life as a hero.

"Anyway! Ryukyu said you did a really great job," Krow continued as he turned back to her, cards in hand. "She said she was really proud of you! Basically everything the detectives said, but I think there's a card here from her too. Something about being partner and being trustworthy and a great mentor and ya know...the Ryukyu works."

He looked at the stack of cards in his hands and then back at Ochako. She smiled. That was right. This whole thing started out as a way to test her skills, and she had triumphed. Despite her shortcomings, she hoped Krow's quick mention of partner meant that coveted promotion was coming soon. However, even if it wasn't, she knew it would come someday. She didn't feel like she had to be so hard on herself anymore. There was this liberating feeling of self affirmation she couldn't quite place in her memory. She knew it was a new feeling, but from where she couldn't remember yet. Pyromancer had been a monster and she had vanquished him. Maybe that's where the pride was born from?

"What about you?" Ochako asked quietly.

Krow gave her a look and rolled his eyes with a smirk. Shrugging he answered, "Oh, ya know, I did a good job, too. I..."

He stared at her, his brow furrowing as he drew in air forcefully. "Well, I did exactly what she hired me for."

Ochako cocked her head to the side and the look of confusion on his face matched hers.

Krow added, "D-do you remember how you defeated Pyromancer? 'Cause...it looks like you don't. And I'm worried."

"I..." Ochako bit her lip trying to remember. The fight on the ground was clear as day, like it had just happened, but she knew it hadn't ended there. What was left? The beautiful picturesque sky flashed before her. Pyromancer's bloody face followed his cruel snarl. Things were going right, though...but then they weren't. It felt like an old nightmare and the visions jerked themselves out of her periphery again, as if to protect her.

Her mind tried its damnedest to block out the memory, but Ochako latched onto it before it could fly away again. Tearing it open, she dove in, reeling herself back to that moment when everything fell apart. The awful, sickening feeling of running completely cold, as if her consciousness were trapped in a corpse. The inability to save herself. The helplessness. The icy cold...and the nothingness.

"How high? How high were we?" Ochako asked, dragging herself out of the trauma, the chill manifesting itself up her spine.

Krow nodded, his lips becoming a straight line. "Pretty damn high. And don't ask me in meters, 'cause I don't know it in meters. But, there's more to it than that."

What else? Ochako remained silent as she grasped at the ephemeral memories as they passed by, darting in and out of her focus. Some of them were so clear – her bouncing off of Pyromancer's bronze gauntlet was definitive. Some were not so easily defined, teetering at the tip of her tongue, and left her with just bits and pieces of sound and emotion, the latter much too raw to be associated with the fight. It was like trying to remember a dream that was not meant to be revisited. Yet her mind clawed at the black curtain, trying desperately to figure out what it had all been about. Despite the thought fluttering just out of her grasp, her heart lurched forward painfully, as if the memory were buried there instead.

Krow mistook her silence as a need for a mnemonic detail, but only held in a laugh, covering his smirk as he snorted into his hand and said, "You really don't know?"

Ochako cocked her head. Recovering, he displayed his smirk, the same one that had summoned feelings of dread in both Ochako and Uravity over the past month. "You don't remember anything? Where you ended up? Who saved you?"

She stared as the bits and pieces of thoughts finally brought themselves together into a memory she could analyze. The cold had been chased away by the heat of another, if just briefly. It was so brief, in fact, that the whole thing felt as though it had happened in another dimension, somewhere separate from where and who she was now. It was clear as day, though, and she swallowed thickly, her body remembering his arms around her, her ears remembering his breath, her skin remembering his heat. She winced. That really happened?

That...really...happened?

"Yeah, just, save that for later," Krow snickered, looking away, knowing full well this wasn't a laughing matter but unable to keep it tied up. When he turned back, he saw the anxiety welling up in her face, the permanent rosy patches on her cheeks darkening to crimson. He spoke again as if now trying to make up for it.

"Okay. Okay. Two things," Krow held up two fingers. "First: Deku is okay. He's still here, but okay. And Second: I separated you on the way down. I figured, ya know, you didn't need a media shitstorm about it. I mean, you can barely handle me giving you shit about Deku."

Relieved, Ochako just smiled sweetly in his direction, her breath falling out of her as she relaxed. No doubt the kid cared in his own way, and there was no use in hiding it from him. "Krow...you're my hero."

"All in a day's work, ma'am," the black angel shot her finger guns and a heroic smile. They laughed together, but Krow's laugh died out quickly, his smile becoming reduced into something more sentimental as his eyes fell to the floor.

"You know," he started. "I'd actually like to stay partners. I already asked Ryukyu if I could stay but she said it was up to you."

"She didn't say anything about fixing your attitude?" Ochako needled him, and he just shrugged.

"Nope. She said I was good for you," he said with a half smile, putting his hands into his pockets. The weak smile ran away from his face and he became serious, an odd look for him. "I just...I just need you to know that you were really dying. Up there. If Deku hadn't done what he did, you would definitely be dead. It was...how I found you. I actually couldn't believe my own quirk – you were alive still. Kinda. But you looked so _gone_. You were so pale and barely breathing and so cold. You barely had a pulse..."

Ochako brought her knees to her chest as she listened, the thin white blanket becoming untucked from the mattress as it was brought in with her knees. She knew it had been crazy. Desperate situations called for desperate actions and Krow seemed to know this as he paced slightly at the foot of her bed. He wasn't berating her, nor upset with her, but there was an anxiousness she couldn't place in him. He shook his head as if trying to rid this foreign feeling from himself. The way he was acting was so uncharacteristic of him, as if he had transformed into someone else. "I just...I can't lose anyone else. And...and I can't be going up there. Not again."

"Well...I can't see ever needing to do _that_ again," Ochako said with a little twist in her voice and a reassuring grin, trying to alleviate the worry in her student, but he shook his head violently.

"No, no, you don't get it."

"What don't I get?"

The crow's wings shuddered and he shifted his weight, trying to keep something buried. "N-nothing. Forget it."

Ochako clenched the blanket over her knees tightly as Krow tried to escape the room, feeling like, for the second time, she had inadvertently pried into his mystery a little too deeply. Under all his layers of humor and sarcasm, there was a very sensitive skin that still harbored some kind of open wound.

"Krow, wait," Ochako choked out after trying to hold it in. Part of her was too curious, and the other half scolded her to leave his business be. It seemed to her that some part of him was trying to claw its way out and tell her something. If she didn't stop him now, this would be the third time she didn't question it.

He lingered in the doorway, his back to her. It was his turn to open up and he knew it.

"I just think...if we're going to be partners, I should know you a little bit, shouldn't I?" she tried to stay lighthearted, but she just knew something was wrong. "We...we almost had a heart-to-heart on the battlefield the other day. That I remember very clearly. I thought I started to get you and we learned a few things about each other, but I still don't feel like we've properly met. Some of the things you say...it just makes me think there's more to you than you let on. And..."

She was trying to make her case, but she was coming up short. Whatever Krow was hiding, it must have been terrible, something he needed to bury way, way down. Did she have any right to ask for this? If these things were terrible, than why should he share them? Despite all of the back and forth in her head, she knew she at least had to give him the floor. He seemed to want it at some point.

"And, you said you would tell me... _might_ tell me, why you went up there the first time."

She heard him sigh, knowing she was right. He turned around, the smirk hiding his past. "I don't know, it's a really long one...I mean to get into it, I gotta _really_ get into it. And you might not like it."

Ochako shrugged. "I'm not going anywhere. It's only fair. You know all of my deep, dark secrets."

"He's not exactly a _dark_ secret," Krow chuckled as he turned around, both of them knowing he was talking about Deku. "Hell, he's barely a secret."

"You're the only person, _the only person_ , who figured it out that quick. My closest friends still took months and even then, it's because I just came out and told them," Ochako whined, but she wasn't about to deny it anymore in front of Krow. "It is a secret. You're just very perceptive."

Krow paused, his hand on the doorknob, becoming serious, as if fully, and for the first time, becoming Asuka Dakuro. Looking out to the hallway, then back at her, he seemed to break the barrier as he shut the door. "It has nothing to do with perception."

He dragged himself to the foot of her bed, trying to find the words that would expose his guts. "I just...I've...been in your situation before. I've...had someone who just...got in my way. All my stupid plans for my stupid life weren't just for me anymore and...I liked it. Just like you. And I tried not to like it. Just like you. For too long."

Ochako stayed silent, and the crow continued.

"Not that I was going anywhere before her. I told you, I wasn't the nicest kid growing up. I didn't do anything too, too shitty, but shitty enough. And I didn't care. No one cared."

He sniffed and nervously squeezed his nose briefly. "Fuckin' hospital stench..." he whispered under his breath, but somehow Ochako knew part of it was a nervous tick as he told the story.

He straightened. "Anyway. Let's get in some background. You know, my whole family is a bunch of angels? Like, for real, almost everyone on my dad's side has white wings. They're not angels in the sense that they are good people, because, wouldn't you know it, they are not. Irony. You know how it goes in stories like these. But they're super religious, such pious energy, and when I was born – with black wings – my grandmother had a conniption for the rest of her miserable days. She said I was the devil...threatened to drown me in the tub a few times. I told her to try it. She couldn't. Dumb bitch was in a wheelchair and never could fly. And my parents never believed me when I told them...I mean, they did, but, they never really did anything about it, ya know?"

He looked away out the window, as if the words were beyond the glass.

"So," he started again, his wings restless. "Idiot me decided to prove her right. I was pretty shitty. Into middle school, I was a pain in the teacher's ass. Sometimes I didn't even go to school. Sometimes I didn't even go home. I'd gamble for comics and gum in the alleyway, y'know, a real, cool guy. I took change out of my mother's purse, got into rip-roarin' fights, the whole look. I was a regular douchebag."

He chuckled. "That's not to say I'm not still a douchebag."

He turned back to her, noticing the toll the story had taken on his small audience. Ochako hadn't had time to digest what he had said on the battlefield those few days ago, and even now it was all very hard to wrap her head around. Her forehead wrinkled in sympathy, though.

"Don't look at me like that," Asuka smirked. "You wanted to hear it."

"I did. And...I think you needed to tell it, too," Ochako murmured, smiling warmly. She could be a sounding board. Maybe she could save his soul yet.

Asuka stared at the corner of the room and nodded slowly. "Probably. I've never told anyone this shit before..."

Ochako nodded, but remained silent as he continued. He sighed loudly, as if he were steadily digging up something long dead and buried, one shovel full of dirt at a time, each one a strain. His feathers rustled as the crow's wings became agitated at the necessity of the next bit.

"I'm not really sure how I met Ai at this point. That's her name. Ai. I don't know...I think it just happened gradually and at first I didn't bother to remember, because it didn't make any sense to me. At that point, everyone knew to stay away from me, but here was this girl, coming to find me all the damn time for no goddamn reason. It was so odd when we hung out, because she wanted to be a hero. That's what she wanted to be when she grew up. A hero. And, at that time, I was destined to be a villain.

"She had the most amazing quirk – she could bring things back to life. And not like Necromancer thinks he can, but actually bring them back to life. Like they were never dead. It was incredible. I would find a dead beetle or butterfly or something, and almost immediately, when she picked it up, it would fly away. She loved my quirk; she thought we could be partners and I always had to remind her I was a piece o' shit.

"She even came up with names for us. Revital, for her; Raven for me. I told her that sounded too girly. She said, so did Asuka. And I was like, shut the fuck up."

Asuka grinned at the memory, but something dark and uneasy settled into Ochako's stomach. She waited as the grin disappeared. "But anyway...

"Long story short, I fell for her like a child. And I get so...angry at myself for never telling her. I thought I had a lot of time, all this time to mull it over, to get my act together or forget it. But as quickly as she was in my life, she was out of it."

Asuka paused there, his mouth becoming welded shut. His face remained blank; no sign of sadness could be detected. He only seemed empty, his hands still in his pockets, only reappearing when he needed to scratch at his scalp, pull his hair, or touch his nose in nervous ticks that begged he stop there.

Ochako waited. Asuka seemed lost in the memories, his black eyes never meeting hers. Ochako could feel the dread, knowing this wasn't a simple break-up, nor a disagreement among friends. Ai was a traumatic experience to the young Krow and it had shaped him in ways he wasn't admitting. Ochako had no choice but to prompt him.

"Krow...what happened to her?"

Contemplating it, Asuka wiped at his nose again and pulled his jacket as his hand found its way back into its pocket. He gave a loud sigh.

"She died. Ai died saving a little kid. She gave him the rest of her life energy so that his mother wouldn't be sad after...he went through her windshield. Right in front of us. And just like that, she was gone, and I just...

"I get angry that she didn't tell me about it. She wasn't truthful with me the whole damn time, but, I get it. Because if she told me how her quirk was killing her, I probably would have selfishly told her to stop using it. But she couldn't do that. She wouldn't do that. She was Revital – endlessly giving her own life energy away to save things from death. It made her happy to do it. How could I stop her? I don't think it would have made a difference, but I'll never know, now."

He went silent again, shaking his head, as if he knew her death wasn't something he should shoulder and yet feeling as if more could have been done. Ochako didn't speak. There was no room for her here. As dark as it was, Asuka seemed to recover, circling back to the reason for this session.

"Anyway. I was in this fog for a long time. It was like, finishing the greatest story of all time and then suddenly it's over, the end, and you have to go back to your shitty life. Surprise! Reality still exists. And I didn't feel changed. I didn't feel like I learned anything. There was no moral to the story. I just felt like both of us got fucked, especially her, and that was the worst, because if either of us deserved to kick the bucket, it was my worthless ass. It felt like there was no point. It was pointless. And I just don't understand why she felt compelled to do it.

"After that, I didn't go home again. I just flew. I flew out and then I just started flying up. Way up. I wanted to just fling myself into space. I was dead on the inside. I still am. But for just a second, I wanted to be dead on the outside, too. Going up there just brought it all back, is all..."

He finally met her eyes again as if checking to see how she was doing, and Ochako stared. What could she say? He had finally laid it all out on the table for her to analyze, and somewhere deep in the story, she could see herself in Asuka's shoes. She picked at the gauze on her right hand and spoke, finally. "No matter what you think, I'm glad you told me."

Asuka scratched at his cheek bashfully.

"Yeah, you're...kinda the first person I've given a crap about since that all happened," Asuka murmured. "No one gave a crap about me after...they all thought I had something to do with it. And, whatever."

"That's awful."

"It's fine. I wouldn't trust me either. I went hero to get away from myself. I figured a hero was the furthest thing from me, but I ended up just carrying on what Ai always wanted, just to figure out why anyone would sacrifice their own life for someone they don't know. I know I've been doing this hero shit for a bit now, but I don't feel compelled to do it. I keep jumping into these situations to figure it out, but I haven't felt it once. I know...you can't believe that, but here I am, being real, telling you the truth. I don't have that drive like you do. I'm a villain in hero's clothes. Through and through, a piece o' shit."

Asuka shrugged, looking away again. "But, I'm starting to get it. I'm almost glad I met Pyromancer. And Echo. And Necromancer. Villains come in so many colors, don't they? I see I'm not like them. All these years after getting my heart ripped out, I find I could still manage to have one."

"I don't think you're as bad as you think you are," Ochako smiled meekly, his story still running through her mind. "I think you're hero material. You saved me and Deku, right?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," Asuka brought his hand to his chin, covering his scar and pondering his actions.

She continued. "Even if you saved us because we're friends. You flew out of your comfort zone to save us. That's a hero, too. It's our actions that set us apart from villains, even if we come from the same place. You've been a hero this whole month, and you're still trying to save me..."

Her words seemed to get through to him as his wings finally relaxed into the folded stance they normally assumed and his hand dropped from his chin. Ochako swallowed, finally making the connection.

"You don't want me to make...what you see as a mistake."

"Well...yeah. Ah, you were just...pissing me off so much. But I forgot how hard it was. I'd just give anything to still have that shot," he shrugged one shoulder. "You wanted to know where I was coming from...and I wanted you to know..."

He became serious and looked her right in the eyes. "It _is_ a mistake. It's a mistake to think people wait or that they'll always be there. Even with the best intentions, from my experience, people are fleeting. Your job will always be there; you have the rest of your life to make it big, anywhere, anytime. You don't get that with people. They're also living their lives that will go on without you. Or they'll disappear. You got this second chance with him. He's clearly single, so, why not? Why let him be the one that got away?"

Ochako nodded, biting her bottom lip now that the focus was on her again. Somewhere in her memory was the will the go through with it. To say it. She had wanted to say it so badly. Now that the dream was over and reality set back in, all of the anxiety returned. What if it made her friendship with Deku fall apart? What if this all drove a wedge between them, an awkwardness she could never take back? What was more important – being near him or telling him the truth? There was still so much to figure out, even if everything worked out...which she refused to entertain. Deku had no idea. How could she even bring it up?

The building agita lingered on her face, enough for her winged student to take notice, and his feathers rustled, jolting her from her thoughts.

"You don't _have_ to do anything, though," he said, reaffirming his intentions. They were nothing like Mina, Tooru, or even Aoyama. He was simply a hero saving her from herself, a hero who saw that the only person in Ochako's way was Ochako. "I'm just sharing my experience, what it's like on the other side of this indecision. But you don't ever have to tell him. If you do, I'll be happy for you. Hell, I'll celebrate. But if you don't..."

Krow's hands left his pockets as he shrugged loosely, his palms up, as if he were changing back into the person she had come to know. "Well, then that's fine, too. I'll be here for you, and we'll know everything about the why and the who and the when, and we could share a pint on the corner. I can be right here empty with you, drink our sorrows away, the whole thing."

Ochako finally cracked a wide smile. "Are you even old enough to drink?"

"Only if you don't tell them. Screw the rules," he said, giving her a thumbs up and his familiar smirk. He took a cell phone out of his pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should call the agency and let them know you're alive."

He opened the door and all the sounds of the hospital came rushing back in, as if the tragedy was never shared. As he moved through the doorway and out of sight, Ochako realized then that she had never really met Asuka Dakuro. Who was he when he wasn't being Krow? Although he revealed this much, so much was still hidden. Krow had discarded Asuka, buried him under humor and a disregard for life in general. That's probably how he wanted it - being Asuka, the one still missing Ai, was too painful.

Ochako stretched her legs out, thinking about his story and how easily she could replace Asuka and Ai with herself and Deku. It was eerie, and she knew he felt it, too. After all, he had been expressing his concerns all this time in the only way Krow knew how. Her student's stark duality was hauntingly the same as hers with Uravity as well. But, where Krow took over, Ochako refused to let Uravity do the same. She didn't want to be just Uravity. She didn't want to need her for anything else but hero work. For the other stuff, if she needed anyone, then she wanted to need Deku - a real, live person, not a shield.

She had been coming at this all wrong.

It would be another week of observations before Ochako was released from the hospital. It wasn't the hypothermia that had worried the doctors, although her survival was nothing short of a miracle. What was concerning the medical team was her hand and they feared it would never be the same. The hands and arms were not considered a major area for concern, the doctors had told her, but because her quirk factor was housed in her fingers, they treated her injury much more severely. Upon unwrapping it, Ochako grimaced. The skin on top of her hand was wrinkled and discolored, as if a plastic film had grown over it. Staring at it, she groaned. How unsightly it was!

"What matters is that you can still use your quirk on your right hand," the nurse said gently as he set a few plastic children's toys on the food tray. "All heroes get scars like these. Wear it as a badge of honor."

Ochako thought and nodded in agreement. Deku had plenty of scars running up and down his arm last time she checked. She was sure he had acquired a few more in their time apart. To think this was her first major scar, and an ugly one at that.

"Please, test your quirk on these," the nurse said, offering the objects with an open hand. "And then release them. Let me know if you feel any pain or if something is off."

Ochako nodded. Touching all five fingers to the objects one by one, they all floated just fine. Bringing her finger pads together with the ones on her left hand, they all released just as well as they always had, dropping out of the air to bounce off the tray and roll under the bed.

"Good as new," Ochako murmured, still trying to get used to the state of her hand. She poked the skin there and found the nerves fired lazily, the message to her brain muffled as if she were wearing a thick glove.

"Fantastic. Then I'll get the paperwork in and you'll be out of here before you know it!"

Functional. These hands could work again. That's all that mattered. It didn't hurt anymore either, another plus, although she could feel the skin pull and strain whenever she made a fist. As bad as that fight had been, Ochako deemed herself lucky that this was all she brought out of it. Physically.

As she checked out and left the hospital building, a thought tickled at the back of her mind. All of her physical ailments had been fixed but there were still mental scars she needed to address. She couldn't lie to herself anymore – Pyromancer had been terrifying. His snarling face refused to leave her memory for a long time and his sick and twisted ideology scratched at her consciousness like sand paper. He was the embodiment of a nightmare. He frightened her to her core, and had made her desperate. So desperate, in fact, that she had done something so incredibly insane just to stop him. Everyone called her brave, and she guessed it fit the definition. Still, the ice in her veins remained - the very experience of him pulling out her heat left her shivering on this sweltering late August day. It had been too easy for him to scare her. Just a simple flick of his wrist and he could have killed her. She wouldn't be here right now if not for Deku. Twice.

Leaning up against the bus stop waiting for Nejire to pick her up, she thought about Deku. Did anything scare him? Being that powerful with so much utility, it was hard to imagine that Deku could be frightened of anything. And yet...something in what Pyromancer said had jolted the black whip and caught Deku off guard. Something had contorted his emotional focus to the point of uselessness, if only for a second. It wasn't Pyromancer himself that scared Deku – if the green lightning had no earthly ties, then Pyromancer would have been a cake walk. But Deku cares deeply for his friends, and that included her. It was the only ace Pyromancer had had in that fight.

Did all heroes feel this way? Did every hero have a villain that truly scared them?

She'd never know. It wasn't her business to know. The humans under the capes had lives to live and feelings to feel, and they were allowed that much. Knowing Krow's story, she was now certain that every hero had a life just as complex and confusing as her own. There was no standard to hold herself to. Not anymore. She smiled to herself, feeling that noose around her neck slowly loosen some more. She was free to be Ochako. Although the muscle memory demanded she hide this soft, weak persona behind Uravity, she was learning not to.

And that meant getting the hell out of dodge, or at least, her current apartment. Echo and Pyromancer had been outside her door plotting her demise, stealing the sense of comfort from the tiny studio. Returning to this place no longer felt like home, but more like a prison cell the warden could disturb at any time. There was no use remaining in this place if it meant triggering herself every time she unlocked the door.

So, she sold it and moved not even a month later. Forcing herself to believe she deserved nice things, which was the next step, Ochako tossed her frugality aside and purchased a new apartment, one with more than four walls and a toilet. She finally felt like she was making it, the reminder in the floorboards, the electric stove, the sliding glass doors to the balcony, her friends moving the boxes in, and the means to repay them for their services.

"It's late, Round Face, come have a beer with us," Bakugo drawled from a chair he had pulled outside onto the balcony, the glass door open all the way. Kirishima was by his side gulping down a cold one with the rest of the boys. "You can do that shit tomorrow."

He was referring to the dish in her hand. All of the boxes had come in and the furniture had been placed exactly where she wanted it, but she still felt compelled to completely finish the job, as unlikely as that would be today. Tsuyu hadn't stopped her, though, and was helping to put some of the kitchen necessities away.

"Kero, I suppose we shouldn't get too carried away," Tsuyu commented.

"Oui! We have all worked so hard. Wouldn't the young mademoiselle like to partake in the alcohol she bought? Hm?" Aoyama spun to Ochako's side, surely not referring to himself in the "work hard" department, she hoped. He had been entertaining, though, and his eye for feng shui did make her new place stylish and functional, even if there was so much left to unpack.

So many of her former classmates had come to help her move, probably inspired by Momo's gesture to do the things necessary to keep these friendships alive. It was a shame Momo herself couldn't be here today, but the Creation hero was tied up. Such is life as a hero. Not one to miss out on an opportunity to be the best friend she could be in the only way she knew how, Momo had sent Ochako a hefty house warming gift, good for food shopping well into next year. Ochako almost fell over when she opened the mail that morning, but Deku and Tsuyu had caught her, and argued it would be more of an insult to Momo if she didn't accept it. She made a mental note to call that woman first thing in the morning to thank her.

"Hm?" Aoyama hummed in her ear again, jolting her from her thoughts.

"Oh! Yeah!" Ochako squeaked. "You guys are right. I can definitely do this tomorrow."

"I can come by tomorrow to help you, too, Ochako," Tsuyu said as she closed the cabinet.

"That would be great, Tsu! Thank you!"

The two girls followed Aoyama to the glass sliding doors where she could take everyone in as they gathered on her gray stone balcony. All heroes in street clothes, Bakugo sat at the door on the tall bar stool he had taken from the island inside, with Kirishima standing right next to him. Iida sat on one of the two white, plastic lounge chairs across from Todoroki and Izuku who both leaned against the balcony railing. Last but not least, Krow perched himself on the railing, just like a bird, balancing with his wings behind him, counter-weighted with his arms resting on his knees. It was odd to see him in street clothes, for which she was sure Kyoka Jirou would approve of – black, baggy shorts and a black sleeve-less t-shirt of his favorite rock n' roll band. He took a swig from his amber bottle.

"Oof. This is it, chief," he said to himself.

Iida stood from his seat on the far lounge chair as Ochako came to sit next to him. He bowed his head. "I appreciate the drinks, Uraraka. Thank you. As a reminder, we must all make sure to drink responsibly."

Ochako heard Krow snort softly into his bottle. Bakugo, on the other hand, would not be as discreet.

"Fuck that, Four Eyes. I'm drinking all of Round Face's booze after hauling all her shit eighteen flights."

"Kacchan, there was an elevator," Izuku reminded him, but was met with fury.

Bakugo pointed and barked, "Yeah, for weaklings like you, Deku!"

Izuku nodded, "Got me there."

Krow joined in to alleviate the tension. "Pfft, elevators. Amiright?"

Bakugo grumbled as he brought the bottle tip to his lips. The rest of the crowd laughed and giggled, including Kirishima who smacked Bakugo's shoulder to loosen him up. Krow hadn't used the stairs or the elevator, opting instead to fly Ochako's belongings directly to her apartment via the balcony. She wasn't even sure he had come inside at all.

As the laughter died down, Ochako felt a great wave of happiness wash over her. Surrounded by friends in her new place, she couldn't help but feel giddy. Although she was still in the same neighborhood – she could see the Ryukyu offices from here, as well as the bald spot among the buildings Pyromancer had created - it felt so fresh, like she was being born again.

The balcony especially made her feel like she was making it and taking it. Directly below, the sounds of traffic wafted upward as it followed the path of a large traffic circle around a beautifully green park. Being up so high on the eighteenth story, though, that white noise was drowned out by the silence of the atmosphere. There was no one above her, either; this was the last floor. The sky opened wide above them past the overhang, darkening with incoming storm clouds that smothered the sun's last rays as it sank below the horizon. The rain would be welcomed by the dry city, scorched by the summer's heat.

After some time of banter and chit-chat, Aoyama arose from his seat on the lounge chair closest to the glass doors, across from Ochako. "Well, it has been quite a fun day, but I must take my leave! I bid you all adieu on this _lovely_ night."

"I should also get going, kero," Tsuyu croaked from the door frame as Aoyama passed by. "I'll be here tomorrow afternoon to help you unpack, Ochako!"

"Thanks, Tsu!"

She watched as Tsuyu stopped just inside the door frame and touched the switch, the outdoor light coming on in a yellowish glow. Tsuyu waved and then disappeared further into the apartment. Not a minute later, the door creaked as it was opened and then shut quietly as she and Aoyama left. The hinges could use some oil, Ochako thought to herself, and that outdoor sconce could use a cleaning as well. Damn, it felt good to think of such innocuous things!

A quiet overtook the balcony as the friends nursed their drinks. Night was falling all around them and a cool autumn breeze meandered through, chilling Ochako's legs not covered by her blue jean shorts, and she zipped up her light, pink sweatshirt to guard against it. The day had been so hot, as if it were still summer, but autumn made its presence known at night when the sun wasn't looking. The chill didn't seem to bother the men, though. They all stood around in shorts and short-sleeve shirts. Then again, they had done most of the heavy lifting, and she guessed they welcomed the natural air conditioning as it brushed by.

Bakugo barged into the quiet calm with a raspy assertion directed at Krow. "Hey, bird brain, isn't it past your bedtime, too?"

"Oh, big yikes. You might be right," Krow played along, tapping his bare wrist as he facetiously checked the time. "Well, then I'll see ya on Monday, boss."

He saluted to Ochako and she waved as he stood up and fell backwards. "Peace out, cub scouts."

Krow disappeared off the side, beyond the balcony railing as he fell to the street. The quiet flaps of his wings could be heard not a second later, and Ochako watched as Todoroki and Izuku turned their heads to follow her student as he flew down the street.

"Bakugo, why did you do that?" Iida asked. "He has a right to attend this get-together and I don't appreciate your bullying him out of it."

Bakugo quirked an eyebrow at the uptight man. "I'm surprised you're not having a conniption. His ass isn't old enough to drink."

There was a beat of silence before Iida exclaimed, "WHAT?"

Kirishima jumped in, "Relax, dude."

"It's okay, Iida, he only had one," Ochako said, trying to assuage Iida's anger in himself with a pat to the back. It was obvious enough that as a UA senior, Krow definitely wouldn't be old enough, and Iida's frustration was mostly invested in his own carelessness. That didn't mean the other adults in the room weren't held accountable. Iida was true to his lawful good convictions and lectured them some more.

"We're supposed to be responsible adults around him and be welcoming heroes. This is providing alcohol to a minor!"

Iida held up an empty bottle as he scolded them. Ochako couldn't help but agree, and she could see the same thought running through Kirishima's and Izuku's thoughts. Todoroki still stood poker faced and silent.

Bakugo, on the other hand, couldn't care less, and lazily pointed the spout of his beer bottle to Izuku. "So, go turn yourself in. The cops are right there."

Caught off guard, Izuku jumped at the notion and scratched the back of his head. "I'm, uh, I'm off the clock. It's really fine, it's not a big deal."

Iida sighed loudly, shrugging his wide shoulders, "I suppose it can't be helped, now."

Ochako nodded weakly. "It's fine, I'm sure he's going to be okay."

"Hm," Bakugo hummed as he shook his empty bottle. "And with that, all the booze is gone. Guess I'll be getting out of here as well."

"Uh," Izuku held up a finger, stepping towards his rival with concern. "Kacchan, you had about five of those. Do you really think you're okay to drive?"

"Midoriya, you really should stop looking out for him," Todoroki said quietly. "Just let him get pulled over."

"Shut up, Deku!" Bakugo howled as he waddled into the apartment, clearly buzzed. "And you, too, ya half and half bastard. I can do whatever I want."

They could hear Bakugo grumbling and tripping over things inside, as well as the loud clang of his beer bottle as he threw it into the recycling bin. Kirishima giggled and whispered so Bakugo couldn't hear, "Don't worry, guys, I'll be driving him home. I'll see ya later."

"That's a relief," Izuku murmured as Kirishima walked in to follow Bakugo. It didn't sound like there was much resistance to Kirishima's plan, and the door closed nicely after them, that creak in the hinges signaling their exit.

"Oh," Todoroki jumped from his spot. "That reminds me, Iida, if you have a moment...do you know anything about engines in cars?"

Todoroki scooted by Izuku and towards the glass doors. Iida got up from his seat next to Ochako and followed absentmindedly, at first a little shocked at Todoroki's request. "Ah, yes, of course, Todoroki. The Iida family has a long history of not only minding the engines in our legs, but..."

"That's great," Ochako heard Todoroki cut Iida off from inside the apartment. Iida didn't seem to the take any offense as he left Ochako's sight. After a minute, Todoroki raised his voice to retroactively say goodbye. "See you guys later!"

"Thanks for all your help, guys!" Ochako called back.

"You are very welcome, Uraraka. Goodnight!" Iida shouted before the familiar click of the door closing sounded for the last time that night.

She gulped as the next thought took up residence in her mind - she was alone with Izuku. Everyone had disappeared so quickly and all at once! The arrangement felt so familiar, pulling itself to the forefront from the distant past, and all of the old awkwardness set in just like night was now. Izuku didn't seem to take in the gravity of the situation as he spoke, a chuckle in his voice, "They sure left quickly."

Ochako nodded and forced her voice to respond, "Yup! I guess...you'll be going soon, too?"

She stiffened asking this. She really didn't want him to leave. It was fortunate he had found other things to work on this past month - no doubt there were other closed cases to solve and more villains to haul in. The local police department would squeeze everything they could out of him before he was assigned to a new district. That time would run out soon, she was sure.

He seemed to pick up on her wishes and rested his arms against the balcony railing again, peering at the city of ants below. "I can stay a bit longer."

"Oh, that's good," Ochako said, feeling her throat constrict. Why was it good? "I, uh...it gets a bit weird...being in a new place all of a sudden. I was hoping everyone could stay for a few more hours...at least until it was bedtime!"

She was rambling. Deep down, something tugged at her heart violently, like it was shouting at her. She knew what it was and it made her cheeks heat up.

"Oh, I definitely get that," Izuku calmly responded. "But, I do need to be at the station earlier than usual tomorrow."

"Why's that?"

"I'm not sure, but it usually means I'm getting reassigned. I'll probably get a few choices and then use the day for travel," he explained.

Ochako nodded, or at least, she thought she did. In all honesty, she felt her whole body sink with her heart, and her eyes landed on the ground just underneath the opposite lounge chair. She let an intelligible moan escape her lips in understanding, and Izuku seemed to take it as such. His back was to her as he enjoyed the view below. The autumn wind made its way between them again, rustling and tangling through his hair, pushing the collar of his black shirt up against his face.

Izuku went on to explain to her how his job worked during these lulls, the things the police department had him working on in the meantime. She was only half listening, though. Wanting to get up and join him at the edge of the balcony, she found gravity's pull on her was heavier than normal and she didn't have the strength to fight with it. All that was running through her mind was one dreadful fact:

He'd be gone again.

The feeling that accompanied those words felt like panic. At one point, she knew she had been ready to say it. Somewhere beyond the clouds, she left that confidence or that frustration or...whatever had finally been free enough to spill out, its contents still unknown. She left it there and didn't know how to get it back, not without feeling desperate. Not without that stimulation. A chill ran up her spine as the voiceless parts of her remembered the feeling lovingly. She had wanted to say it so badly, up there where the world didn't matter. Down here, the change in perspective left her so frustratingly reticent once again. It wasn't easy anymore. It never would be. A raging debate filled her consciousness, one she was too used to.

At first, the path of least resistance presented itself – easy, tried, and true. She could live with the decision she had made two years ago. Continue on from there. The memory of graduation day clouded her thoughts, the very moment she turned down this path. The sun had been shining through the wide open window of his dorm room and made a halo around him as if making a statement that of all the things she needed and strove for, this was the one thing she could have all to herself. But, no. That wasn't allowed. Not for Ochako, not when she had so much left to accomplish. It was the moment she tore herself apart and left him behind. There was no time for love in a hero's life, she had always asserted, no room for selfish wants when needs were tough enough to obtain. If she was so certain of this, then why even ask for it? What would have been the point?

She could live with it. The proof was in these past two years. She could live without it, banking on the fact that an unfed fire would eventually die. It had to. It needed to.

It didn't.

Those coals stayed hot until he returned again to rekindle the fire anew. Just like the first time she had fallen for him, something profound had been reignited in her. Yet, as much as she had wanted to tell him again, at a different time, on a different balcony, she just couldn't. Time had worn her confidence further – there was too much time between inception and now. If she thought time was scarce in high school, then she hadn't been prepared for the level of business real hero work demanded.

She was busy. He was busy. Their lives didn't allow for any of this neediness.

Yet the cruel cycle turned. Perhaps it would turn again when the time was truly right. Yeah. Maybe the next time he fell into her life, she would be in a better spot, a stronger mindset, with all the confidence to say it out loud. Like two planets orbiting through space, eventually, they would line up again for a glorious equinox. Eventually, there would come a time when she could give this her whole attention. She could wait.

But that would be a mistake. Even if they were destined to be reunited sometime in the future, why wait?

Five years.

Five years she'd already wasted, fighting with herself over this. It was such a shame she had seen these feelings as a blight on her character. When she wasn't worried about what other people thought, or letting her stress over it get the best of her, the feeling was so incredible, unlike any other emotion. Nothing was stronger, nothing flowed through her so fluidly like her love for him. How lucky she had been to be his best friend for the duration of their school days. All of those opportunities to give him all of the love and support she could had been a service she would have always done for free. It didn't matter that the feelings she received from him were platonic. When it was safe, she loved him freely, automatically.

On the other hand, when he had been gone, it also felt like agony. Without him there, there was no where for her feelings to go. Overwhelmed and grief-stricken, all she could do was bury them in hopes they'd just go away.

Five years she'd been burying these feelings, and for what? For other things that could wait. Sure, they were important. Ochako was Uravity; she was a hero and a damn good one. But, when Uravity was with Deku, they could both fly. Even as they sat here, as two, normal twenty-somethings at the cusp of the rest of their lives, there was a feeling of fullness Ochako couldn't place, but suffered without. If she didn't say anything now, he would be gone again, taking her heart with him. There would be an emptiness in her chest she could not fill.

That's what was missing. This passion setting the world on fire. There was no one else that could light this blaze.

Five years she'd been lying to herself. It was a personal inferno Ochako had cast herself into, but she was learning to emerge from it, grow from it. There was no way she was letting this burn out, not again, not when he was right in front of her. As difficult as it seemed, that meant coming to terms with her greatest mistake and her greatest truth:

He was the love of her life.

And he needed to know.

A stillness had crept between them, a calm lull in the conversation Ochako hadn't been a part of. She had nodded and understood what Izuku was saying, and he seemed content where he left off, looking over the side as the sun set, painting the looming clouds a shade of deep magenta and violet, as if an artist had raged across the sky up to the yellow sun that still clung to the edge of the Earth, a tiny sliver of yellow. Ochako opened her mouth, but nothing came out as her throat tightened. She swallowed past it, clutching the collar of her sweatshirt, and tried again. Noise came out, "H-hey, Deku?"

Her eyes were glued to the space underneath the lounge chair opposite from her, but she heard him stir, probably turning around and seeing her like this - scrunched up as small as she could make herself in her seat. There was no turning back.

"Uraraka...are you okay?" he asked, clueless, with genuine worry in his voice. Ochako's cheeks burned and she gulped, keeping her eyes trained down. Now what?

Izuku left the balcony edge, strolling over to her wordlessly. With each step, the need for more words presented itself expectantly, as did Izuku's curious green eyes as he sat in front of her on the opposite lounge chair, so close, trying to see if her sickness was obvious on her face. He probably saw a very odd sort of fear, as Ochako felt her lips move into her mouth. This arrangement seemed too familiar as the porch tight framed him, and the memory of her mistake two years ago chided her. She didn't let this discourage her, however. It was just difficult. Even with all of her realizations as of late, and coaxing from a new friend, this wouldn't come easy.

"I, uh, I'm fine. I just...needed to...talk to you about something..." she trailed, almost hoping that maybe he could get the gist of it from her behavior or maybe just magically, like they had done in the heat of battle those weeks ago. She glanced at him quickly, only to find him waiting for her to continue. He couldn't know. He couldn't guess, and Ochako lowered her eyes again. Where could she even begin?

The autumn air whispered by, finding a trail around the building's brick side, pulling in the clouds, and gently ruffling their hair. The chilly air threatened to cut her again, but this time, Izuku was sitting directly in front of her, blocking it. Suddenly, she knew where to start.

"Do you...remember...what it was like floating...after that battle?...with Pyromancer," she was mumbling, trying to come at this as fastidiously as she could, given the subject matter. Somehow Izuku heard her, and nodded gently. "Oh! Uh, well, it was really foggy for me, so..."

Ochako wanted to slap herself, but Izuku chuckled, "I imagine it would be. You...really had me worried."

Unable to look at him, she kept her eyes down, half of her wanting to do this and the other half wanting nothing more than to disappear into dust. Despite these opposing, tumultuous feelings, she refused to tear herself apart. Not again. She was going to do this, and she was going to do it in one piece.

When she didn't speak, Izuku filled in. "But, why do you want to talk about it again? I thought you said it scared you."

"It did!" Ochako answered quickly, knowing full well what he was referring to. The both of them had been evaluated for trauma, and rightfully so. However, that didn't count for what had really transpired up there, and it was zero hour now – it was either address the elephant in the room, or never get the chance again. Her chest grew tight as she trudged on. "I meant...I know I said something to you...and I was just wondering...if...you...remembered what it was...?"

After mulling it over for a full month, Ochako was fairly certain she had said something up there and what she had said had been confessional. What exactly it was, though, remained a mystery. It spurred all kinds of feelings in her, raw and truthful, like she hadn't been with Izuku since this attraction began, but he hadn't mentioned it. She honestly wasn't entirely sure any words had been shared at all, but something in her heart felt freer, and so, it had to be something. The memory was like someone's best guess at a partial reflection, and if it weren't for Krow's testimony, she was sure she would have never thought of it again. Whatever had happened, she was glad she had been aberrant enough to start the conversation.

"I miss you," Izuku said quietly. Now he was looking away as Ochako's eyes shot up to him, the memory becoming clearer ever so slightly. Now there were words. "That's, um...that's what you said. I'm not sure...I didn't want to bring it up in case...in case it was just...you didn't..."

He was trying to find the kindest words, but Ochako knew – he hadn't mentioned it, just in case it was delirious rambling. Although it probably was, hearing the exact words that had spilled from her dying breaths was eerie and yet sent her heart into her throat. Those words were...so sad. And yet, so right. After all the time he had been gone, she hadn't told him once that she missed him. It had always felt so demanding, like a way to guilt him into giving her attention she didn't think she deserved. It wasn't right of her to make him feel bad for chasing his dreams – heavens knew she had given up everything for her goals, too. But that was clearly the axiom in her soul – an endless longing.

And yet, it was also so ambiguous!

"I-It's fine," she squeaked. "I wasn't sure what I said, but I...did mean that. I do...mean that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I, um," Ochako looked away, dodging his eyes. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe. "I just...I did...miss you."

"I missed you, too, Uraraka," he said delicately, and Ochako assumed it had to do with how uncomfortable she must have looked. But the nuance within was much more tender than she expected, and her mind lingered with it as her mouth went on with the thought that she was still being unclear.

"No, no, I meant...I meant, I missed you...more than anyone else," she admitted. Still not the whole story.

As she clammed up again, her body refusing to cooperate in all of the usual ways, she felt the warmth of his hand brush past hers, his softness meeting her scar. When did they get this close? Ochako, feeling sick of herself, quieted, and met his eyes, hoping he'd see the contents of her heart within them. What she received, though, were the contents in his heart reflected in his green irises, tenderly waiting for her to finish what she had to say. This look was familiar – she had seen it a million times - and yet there was a signal here that was finally reaching her receivers. All this time looking in on herself had made her blind to it. A constant battery of proclamations that stated she was the only one feeling this way had robbed her of this.

This...reciprocation.

Her breath escaped her mouth as a tiny cloud in the chilly autumn air, and the breeze swept through, stronger now, as the sky grumbled gently somewhere far from the city. Ochako couldn't help but feel warm, though, and she smiled. How long had she missed this?

When it was clear the words were stuck in her throat, Izuku offered his own perspective, his cheeks dusted pink under his freckles. The sentiment of longing between them was now easily communicable in looks and the tiniest touches as their hands brushed by each other again, the gravitational pull becoming stronger and pulling them close. Still, the words themselves were new, and a small giggle left Ochako's throat as the shock passed and excitement replaced it.

Izuku spoke softly, free to speak confidently as there would be no rejections, and yet still shy to elaborate the feeling all the same. "I missed you, too...more than anyone else. It's...kind of the reason I'm here."

She could feel him tremble, his timidness with her becoming more obvious. Their hands had come together again as they hung from their knees, closer this time, and Ochako tested the heavy atmosphere by slipping her fingers in between his. He responded bashfully and loosened, allowing her to take his hand. Was he just as scared as she was? Did he also think about their time together the same way she did? These were things she'd never considered before, but now with a cleared head and whole in spirit, she could see it so clearly – he loved her. "My work gives me a lot of freedom...there are always a number of cases to choose from. I chose to come here...I knew you were here. And I...was really...well, I was hoping..."

Ochako giggled and cut him off for his own health, "That we could go to lunch?"

Izuku cracked a grin, his intentions now clear. "Heh, yeah. At least once...while I was here..."

He quieted as they came closer, their hands now fully entwined, the space between them more intimate. There was an unsaid line in what he said, something that felt freeing and more confident than he was letting on. The wish for this moment was clear, this chance was something he had actively tried to create, and just like Ochako, he was going to take the opportunity at this last second. There wasn't any other choice – neither of them wanted to forever hold their piece. She had just beaten him to it and she leaned into him with a knowing hum, her forehead resting against his.

"While you were here, yeah...that's what I was..." Ochako mumbled, leaving the unfinished "thinking" in the air for him to interpret. But there was something she didn't want him to merely assume, even if he was sure of it now. "I...I couldn't let you go, not without telling you...I love you."

Perhaps back in school, that would have been strong, but here, as the sun completely left them over the horizon and autumn's cool breeze tried to break the heat building between them, it felt right. It felt accurate, and Ochako was learning to be open, even if it was frank. There was no greater truth in this moment.

Izuku didn't seem to know how to react, although the confession made his cheeks as red as hers and caught his breath in his throat. She knew he felt the same way. That wasn't what was bothering her as she backed away out of their intimate sphere and pulled him along as he tried to maintain it. Love, unfortunately, was also demanding, not for his feelings, which were freely given, but for his time, for which he had none. Before he could collect himself and respond, Ochako made it clear she wasn't finished.

"But, I don't want to be selfish," she started, and it was clear on Izuku's face that he had no idea how that could be possible. "I know you have a big job to do and that you can't stay. So many people rely on you and I'm just...I'm so proud of you, Deku. Seeing you so successful and in your element...I couldn't be happier. I don't...I never wanted to be something that held you back. But...I want to be fully honest with you...a part of me really doesn't want you to leave, either."

He quickly replied, a shy smirk stretching across his face, the sentiment mutual. "I don't want to go, either. I know they're expecting me tomorrow, but, I...really could stay."

It was clear he was trying to avoid his own mistakes. They both knew time apart would eventually mean radio silence. Such was the life of a hero. But that was just it.

Ochako shook her head. "No, no, you should go. You're Deku, and there's a case that needs solving and a villain who needs his butt kicked somewhere. And when you're done...you can always come back here...because, as Uravity, this is where I will be."

She sighed, thinking of the possibilities and all of the things she had come to accept. There was no telling what lay ahead; the future was a mystery. Two years ago, that had frightened her into keeping her feelings to herself. She had a preconceived notion that hero work was too full to allow love in, and perhaps that really was true. Even as her heart fluttered in euphoria, she was still acutely aware how fleeting this still was – in just a few hours, he'd be leaving the city and there was no date set in stone to mark his return. It very well could be another year or more before they could be this close again, before she could feel his fingertips against her cheek as they were now. His eyes reflected this as she was sure he knew it, too.

"Being a hero is hard," she said softly, cuddling up to his hand as his thumb stroked her cheek in an attempt to comfort her. "But, maybe, we can still make this work. It will be tough, but..."

She cursed the circumstances, but for once didn't damn her feelings. This was worth it. This was worth whatever work needed to be put into it, whatever sacrifices had to be made, just as nurturing Uravity had been. She could live with this. She could survive without this for as long as it took for him to return. Ochako was stronger than she thought.

"I'm not worried about it," she said confidently as she leaned into him, their foreheads touching. "If it doesn't work, then at least...we didn't miss out on each other."

"You're right," he conceded.

There was silence thereafter, the whole world seemingly disappearing and Ochako's thoughts faded as her mind focused on the limited space between them. Being this close was familiar and fostered familiar feelings in her she thought only existed in a dream draped in black curtain the eyes couldn't see through, but the heart felt fully. She closed her eyes, approaching closer as if coaxing him to bridge the gap first. Their breaths became quicker, deeper, as his hand left her cheek to make room for her to hold him around the neck and coming to rest on her thigh, just above her knee.

She could feel him smile as their lips brushed against each other, the intimate touch sending a blaze through her body like she had never experienced before. As soft as her confession minutes ago, she offered him a kiss, pressing her lips against his, gentle and shy. The answer back was another kiss, a little harder, more passionate, now that he was ready, and it flushed every other sensation out of her reality. For a split second, there was nothing, but not emptiness. Time simply stopped, the world ceased to exist, and all that was left was this moment. With him. A feeling of belonging overtook her as the backdraft ignited.

A desperate need for more arose as they parted and she kept him close, threading the fingers of one hand into his fluffy hair, the other arm hugged around his neck still, bringing him in again to continue. Each kiss was gentle, as if both sides held back the weight of fives years worth of lost time. Trying to keep herself under some form of control, Ochako stayed planted in her seat, but her suggestive thoughts ran wild, a typical chaser to his image. His hand crept up her leg, and even though she wasn't sure if he realized it or not, it still drove her mad all the same. His other hand held onto her corresponding arm, as if desperately trying not to wonder. She wished it did.

A flurry of raw emotion swept over her with each parting; the exhilarating feeling weighed down like a heavy pressure but she remained floating ten thousand meters in the air. Descriptive thoughts exclaimed to her memory and heard a call back, a certainty that there was a place high above the planet where a moment only they could share occurred, and it was filled with beauty and a shared warmth despite all of the hardship below, just like this. Its pleasantly somber feel radiated across her skin, and took cognizance of the absent sensation of his body against hers.

She shook that want away; this would have to be all, for now. She was already demanding so much that he had to angle his head down to catch his breath. Ochako had offered so much it had left him struggling against his bodily needs, her lips having been more desired than oxygen. Saying goodbye tonight would be the most difficult thing imaginable. Their eyes met, both glazed over with a suggestion neither was asking out loud, but could be felt in the electricity where fingertips lovingly stroked skin.

The real world tried to enter this dream as the rain finally arrived, soaking the streets, and coming down in a soft shower. It dripped from the overhang as the sun finally dropped below the horizon, the only light now from the single porch sconce and the scattered fairy lights of the city below. The sky grumbled again, the lightning not yet penetrating through the clouds.

She offered another goodbye to him as he breathed heavily, her eyes closing and lips brushing sweet, delicate kisses onto his open mouth, then across his cheek and down his neck, startling a deep, primal purr from him she'd never imagined. He'd successfully filled her senses again and left her feeling so comfortable and yet so positively bothered in a wondrous contradiction.

Tomorrow was too soon to leave this as it was, the dread of returning to life before this moment was hard to imagine. But it wouldn't be the same. It couldn't ever be the same again, and Ochako was happy for it, feeling like her life was now so full.

And not a thing was missing.


End file.
